


I Bid the Future Farewell

by MelindaYoung



Category: Sliders (TV)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Biblical Allusions (Abrahamic Religions), Captivity, Crash Landing, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Season/Series 04, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-10-01
Updated: 1999-10-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 12:34:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22156141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaYoung/pseuds/MelindaYoung
Summary: After being a Kromagg prisoner for months, Wade Welles is scheduled to be shipped to a breeder camp when one of her doubles explains a possible -- and dangerous -- way to escape. The Kromagg transport ship crashes as a result of Wade's interference, and she finds herself back on "Bible World," the Earth where the Sliders escaped Sodom and Gomorrah just before their destruction. With no option to leave, Wade must find a way to make a life on this backwards Earth.
Relationships: Wade Welles/Quinn Mallory (double)
Kudos: 4





	I Bid the Future Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the rights to the characters and scenarios from the Sliders television series. No financial benefit has been derived from the creation of this fan fiction, not even a free drink at a con. I am immensely grateful to the original owners, developers, and creative partners of the Sliders universe for their artistry and vision.
> 
> This story takes place between “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Requiem,” and it serves as a sequel to the story “Gomorrah by the Bay”
> 
> This story has not been authorized to be made available through third-party apps, especially fee-based apps. If you are reading this through an app, it has been copied illegally. Please report this copyright violation to the author on the Archive of Our Own website: archiveofourown.org/works/22156141
> 
> Original Elements Copyright (c) Melinda Young 2020
> 
> I was outraged almost beyond words at the beginning of the 4th season when the new Sliders producers introduced the repugnant running storyline of human women being abducted and forced into a Kromagg/human breeding program. ("Danger! Sex! Violence! Those are always good to bring in viewers. Why not merge them into one tidy package of interspecies violation that will continue in everyone's minds for the rest of the series, even when the main characters inevitably forget their quest to rescue Wade and go off on other adventures?") The producers tried to make it acceptable for television by laying everything out for us...and then hiding the ugly reality behind a whisper-thin curtain. 
> 
> Sorry, guys. There’s no way to make institutionalized sexual assault acceptable. The idea was so unnecessary, so cruel, and so demonstrative of a vile lack of imagination and compassion that I have to wonder what the producers and their network bosses were thinking. Reducing women to parts to be exploited by brutal humanoids speaks volumes about the forces behind the idea. I was so disgusted that I stopped watching the show after “Genesis” and only tuned in for “Requiem” to see how they would handle the resolution of Wade’s story. I was not favorably impressed.
> 
> To make clear my attitude about the casual cruelty, I decided to pull back the producers’ coy little curtain and show the truth behind their new subplot. Parts of this story are ugly. Intentionally so -- I wanted to cast a harsh light on the despicable use of sexual violence as a cheap audience lure. That ain’t entertainment.
> 
> If sexual violence is a trigger for you but you’re interested in reading the story to find out my version of what happens to Wade, I suggest you search for the phrase “Everything you said was a lie” and start reading there.

Wade Welles watched a fly crawl along the top of the far wall of her small cell. He had been her only companion for the last three days, and this stowaway from home—or some other Earth with houseflies—had become a welcome distraction from the endless waiting. She’d watched it make countless patrols of the small room, and at one point she was even counting how many times it traversed the room, using its random travels as a form of timekeeping. Eventually she realized that was a little sick, so she abandoned her count. But she never quite gave up her rather disturbing gratitude to have a friend from home with her, even if it had six legs and a thousand eyes.

She had no idea how long she’d been in this cell on Earth 113. There were no windows to show her night and day, and her meals and other necessities that were provided to her by her Kromagg guards came on no real schedule that she could see. She figured she was sleeping about eight hours out of every day, but she couldn’t be sure of that. The only certain thing she had to tell the passing of time was the unceasing rhythms of her body. She’d been about to get her period when the Kromaggs had grabbed her, and she’d had it again while she was here. She could feel the telltale signs of her body getting ready again in a couple of days, and so as near as she could tell from that and the shaggy length of her uncut hair, she’d been a prisoner for at least two months.

She’d been alone in her cell for three sleeping cycles now, and she missed the human companionship. During her time here, she’d had seven different cellmates, all of them human women and most from other dimensions. One of the other women had been a Kromagg stooge, put in with her to put a happy face on the situation and give her nothing but lies about what was ahead for her. Mary Jane had been her name. Mary Judas was more like it. She was blonde, plump, and full of such self-possessed smugness that she set Wade’s teeth on edge. She’d spent her time telling Wade that all those horrible rumors going around the facility were hogwash, reassuring her that while indeed she was going off to a “next generation facility,” it really wasn’t at all bad: A few of her ova would be harvested in a minor surgical procedure, and then they would be fertilized artificially in a lab and implanted in a Kromagg female. Then she’d be returned to her own Earth, no harm done. She even showed Wade a small scar in the skin above her left ovary, saying she knew the truth because she’d been there.

Mary Jane had gotten nowhere with her, but Wade nodded at all the right comments and played along. Who knew what the ‘Maggs would do to her if she gave their little minion a hard time? Once her unseen captors had been reassured that she was going to cooperate, they’d taken Mary Jane away so she could go indoctrinate someone else.

What little Mary Jane hadn’t known about Wade was she knew the truth. Wade knew the Kromaggs. She’d even been on this wretched planet before, although her captors on this lifeless Earth didn’t seem to recognize her. Apparently, their tracking system wasn’t very thorough, because now she was simply another Wade Kathleen Welles from another anonymous Earth to be processed before being sent off to a breeding camp. Wade was surprised they apparently weren’t doing their mind probing on her and the others. Well, why waste their time and energy? It wasn’t their minds that interested their hosts.

Two other Wades were guests of the Kromaggs here on Earth 113 at the same time, and both had been rotated into her cell at various times. They’d been good company, and she missed them. The first was with her only a couple of days before she was moved on. The second, who’d gone by the name of Kathy, had been in the cell with her for nearly three weeks, from what timeframes Wade could gather. The first Wade had been suspicious, old before her time. She was scrawny and pale, so frail Wade had wondered if she was anorexic. Apparently the Kromaggs had been on her Earth for nearly twenty years. She seemed to know them well, and once she’d decided Wade could be trusted, she’d warmed up to her and given her some important insights into what the ‘Maggs were up to. Before she was whisked away in the middle of the night, she’d told Wade not to trust anyone who came into her cell, because you could never tell who was really a prisoner and who was a Kromagg plant. That had warned her about the happy-time Mary Jane, and it had kept her cautious around the others.

The second double, Kathy, had shown herself to be another born survivor and was cautious at first as well, but after a few days she’d gotten the better of Wade’s loneliness and got her to open up. Wade’s instincts told her Kathy was no Kromagg stooge, so she finally gave in to her need for companionship and at Kathy’s insistence had started telling her stories about her own family, her life, and her adventures. Kathy had been particularly interested in the sliding stories, and she’d been such a good listener Wade couldn’t resist the temptation to entertain so willing an audience. In the middle of the story of Azure Gate World and the Tale of Two Professors, the guards arrived and pulled Wade out of the cell without a word. Her terror froze her mind until she realized she was not being taken away, simply moved to a new cell. And here she’d sat alone ever since.

She thought about all the different rumors her cellmates had passed on, and she wondered how many of them were true. Each had heard various stories about the horrors of the breeding camps, but none of them seemed to have actually been inside a camp itself to know the truth. Wade suspected that the uglier the rumor, the more likely it was to be true. She also suspected that the reason cellmates were rotated as often as they were was so they could keep tabs on what stories were circulating and who was circulating them and if anyone had important information or escape plans so they could isolate the troublemakers more easily. She didn’t want to think about what they did with troublemakers.

She watched the fly make another lazy circuit around the room. Being alone in this windowless box was bringing back all the memories of being confined in various times and places. She’d certainly had her share of time in lockup. Two that kept coming to mind were on Psychic World, where she’d been held hostage by Derrick, the Prime Oracle who was obsessed with her, and Sodom and Gomorrah World, where she’d hidden for endless hours waiting for Quinn’s double, Ani, to come back and help her escape from the brothel’s tyrannical owner. There were a dozen other times when she’d been confined against her will. What was her karma with men imprisoning her, anyway? She hated to think that this was just another episode in a continuing series...and probably the final one.

Wade could hear footfalls coming down the hallway, and she tensed. She’d been fed a few hours ago, so it was too soon for another meal. She prayed her eternal, instant prayer—“Please, not yet”—and the door opened. But guards didn’t appear, only one of her doubles. Wade recognized her as the malnourished, wizened one who knew the Kromaggs all too well. The deadness in her eyes was unmistakable. The door closed behind her as she looked at Wade suspiciously. “Kathy?”

“No, Wade.”

“The one who was here before?”

“Yeah.”

The newcomer looked relieved and sat on the other bunk. “Good to see you again. How you been?”

“Lonely.”

The other woman fluffed the meager pillow and put it behind her back as she leaned against the wall and crossed her match-like legs before her. “Well, when it comes to the ‘Maggs, lonely is better.” Wade nodded reluctantly. “So, what, you’ve been here about two months now, huh?” Wade nodded. “You’ll be going pretty soon then.”

“How do you know?”

“They keep women here for a couple of months to make sure they’re ovulating regularly. When they know, they send you on. I’ve been here for four months because I’m pretty irregular. But I just had my second period, so they’ll be shipping me out soon, too.”

Wade’s stomach sank. Was that why she’d been sitting here all this time? It hadn’t been some clerical oversight and she could stay here in limbo forever? They were simply keeping track of her monthly cycle? Her prayer of “Not yet” began to turn over like a mantra in the back of her mind. “How do you know so much about what they’re doing?”

“They’ve been on my planet for twenty years, remember? I speak Kromagg. Well, I understand it, I don’t speak it. I don’t want them to know I understand them. They set up a breeding camp out in New Mexico.” She paused, as if trying to decide if it was safe to proceed. She continued in a quiet voice, “I was a cleaning lady in the administration offices for two years.”

Wade sat forward eagerly. “You’ve been in a camp!” she whispered.

Her companion shook her head. “I just cleaned the offices.”

“But why didn’t they put you inside?”

Her story came out in the burst of rapid-fire communication of someone who’d been silent too long: “They used to keep us all bundled up and covered when we cleaned, because the chemicals were so toxic, so everyone thought I was a scrawny old lady and no one figured out I was the right age to be breeding material. Then I spilled some solvent on my glove and had to take it off while one of the officers was in the room. He saw my hand and realized I wasn’t a little old lady after all, and that was the end of that.”

“They didn’t just put you in that camp?”

“No. They’re horribly disorganized about a lot of things, but with this they’re efficient. They don’t want to waste time on infertile women, so they bring them here and a few other places and watch them to make sure they’re ovulating regularly. When they decide they are, they ship ‘em to a camp.”

Wade didn’t want to know, but she asked anyway. “What do they do with infertile women?”

Her double drew a finger across her throat. “A woman who came in on my transport was young, but she’d had a hysterectomy. When the ‘Maggs found out, they took her outside and snuffed her.”

Wade shuddered, then tried to keep herself together. Her double was matter-of-fact, even cold. But living with Kromaggs for most of your life would do that to you. “So, you were in a camp. ...You know?”

The other Wade sat quietly for a moment, weighing her options. Of course, the guards might be monitoring them and the two of them would never know. But this woman had long since given up any hope of freedom, and she eventually nodded. She said quietly, “I was in the office part, cleaning and stuff. ...But once, when there was some sort of flu going around among the humans who worked there, a bunch of us were taken inside to work on the cleaning crew. ...I saw inside the main building.”

“Was there anyone there?” Wade asked, keeping her voice low.

She shook her head. “The cleaning chemicals are pretty nasty, so they make sure the breeding stock isn’t around when they clean.”

“...But you know what happens.”

The woman paused, then nodded. “You don’t really want to know, do you?”

Wade’s stomach twisted into a knot. If this woman thought ignorance was better than being prepared, the worst could only be true. But she nodded anyway.

She sighed, then reluctantly began to tell Wade her future. “Well, when you first get there, they pump you full of all these Kromagg hormones to force your body into being compatible with them. About twenty-five percent of the women have a bad reaction to the hormones and die. That’s what I’m hoping for. You get really sick, but it’s only for a couple of hours, and then you die. There are worse ways to go.” Wade didn’t want to hear anymore, but she steeled herself and listened. “And if you survive the hormones, they start timing your cycle and when you’re fertile,” she shrugged, “they do the nasty.”

Wade really didn’t want to know more, and she was surprised to hear her voice croak, “How?”

The other woman squinted at her with her hardened gaze. “What are you, a glutton for punishment?” She shrugged. “Well, there’s a real long waiting list of Kromagg officers, so we’ve all already been reserved for someone. If he’s high-ranking, it’ll just be him. If he’s lesser rank, you’ll be shared by brothers. When their females started going infertile, they did polyandry, so this is sort of a carryover. So, they’ve got you until you catch, and the first child goes to the oldest brother, and then if you catch again, the second goes to the next brother, and so on.”

“So, women survive giving birth.”

“Yeah. Physically. And some I guess emotionally. Like I said, I don’t want to get that far. I’m putting all my energy into dying.”

Wade tried not to react. Maybe her attitude was sick, but maybe it was the only sane one. “...What’s it like? What do they do?”

The other Wade shrugged. “Tab A, Slot B.”

“No, I mean, what’s it like?”

She shook her head. “You don’t really want to know.”

“Tell me.”

She sighed. “Okay. The sex is rough. We’re built different from ‘Magg females, not as tough, and they don’t do it for affection, just procreation. Basically, it’s hard and ugly.” She looked at Wade, wondering if this was all she wanted to know, but Wade’s intense expression showed she wanted to know all the gory details. She sighed again. “There are two basic ways they do it. For most women, they have this big room and everyone’s in there. Benches five feet apart and no curtains so there’re no secrets. And they have this harness thing and they tie you down on this sloped bench face down with your head down and your butt sticking up. Maybe they don’t want to have to look at us while they’re doing it, or maybe that’s how the Kromaggs do it. And besides, with your butt up like that, their spunk will stay in so you’re more likely to catch. So, they just stand behind you and fuck you and fuck you and fuck you until they run out of juice, and then they rest for a while, and then they fuck you some more. Depending on how many brothers you get, it can last for a couple of days. And if you don’t catch, they do it again the next month. And if you don’t catch after four months, they start giving you more hormones to force you to ovulate every seven days, so you pretty much spend your life strapped down with a Kromagg fucking you until you catch. And if you don’t catch after a year, they kill you.”

Wade wished she were numb, but she was trembling slightly so she knew she could still feel. “What’s the other way?”

The woman let out a deep breath. “This way could be better, or it could be worse, depending. This is mostly for the high-ranking officers. They get a real kick out of it. They get inside your mind, and they find some man from your past. Your husband, and old boyfriend. And they make you think they’re that man. So, you’re in a room in the camp, but you think your husband’s come to rescue you, and you think you’re free at home and you’re making love with your husband when you’re still in the camp being raped by a Kromagg. I hear they’ve got a way of recording what the woman sees, so they record your version and the real version, and if the officer is really sadistic, he’ll show you both.”

Wade had her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs.

The other woman continued, “The pregnancies are usually about eight months. The biologies aren’t compatible, so a lot of the pups are a little premature. Labor’s hell, but most women survive. And then you breastfeed it for a couple of months until its immune system kicks in, and then they take it away, and it starts all over again.”

Wade wasn’t listening anymore. This couldn’t be her future, it couldn’t....

“It’s just as bad as you’re afraid it’s going to be. I guess the one of us I sort of envy is Kathy.”

“...Our double?”

“Yeah. They won’t need to do their mind tricks on her. Her brain will come up with some strange story to make all of this seem okay.”

Wade pulled herself out of her haze of denial and frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

The woman regarded her with concern. “She’s completely insane. Didn’t you know that?” Wade shook her head, surprised at the idea. “She’s certifiable. She’s been here for at least six months. They kept her here because they knew something was wrong with her, and they wanted to see if it was bad enough that it might affect the child. I guess they decided she was worth the risk, because they shipped her out three days ago.”

“What are you talking about? She was fine.”

The woman gave her a skeptical look. “I shared a cell with her twice. The first time I was brought into her cell, she introduced herself as ‘Katalina de Aragon’ and explained that the reason she was here in the Tower was because King Henry VIII didn’t love her anymore.” Wade’s mouth fell open with astonishment. “And then when I met up with her again a few weeks later she had a completely different story about being a fighter pilot in a P.O.W. camp that I know was picked up from somebody else. Other peoples’ lives are obviously more interesting than hers, so she borrows them.” She looked at Wade with concern. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“...Three days ago.”

She lowered her voice: “Didn’t you tell me you had friends who knew how to travel through the wormholes?” Wade nodded. “And you thought they’d try to find you?” Wade barely nodded, beginning to realize what her double was saying. “Oh, this is bad. How much of your life did you tell her?”

Wade started feeling nauseous. “A lot.”

The other Wade shook her head. “Oh man, you’ve really done it. She’s sucked up your life, and I bet she thinks it’s her own. And if your friends follow stories of a Wade who travels between dimensions and actually do track you down, there’s a fifty-fifty chance they’re going to get her instead of you. And your friends’ll think you’re free and stop looking for you, while you’re still strapped down on a bench in a Kromagg rape factory.”

Wade shuddered, then put her hands over her face and began to cry. What had she done? She’d given away whatever slim chance she had of being rescued. What had she done? What had she done?

The other woman relented and moved to Wade’s bunk, putting an apologetic hand on her knee. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. My hopes died so long ago, I’ve forgotten other people still need ‘em to survive. I’m sorry. I’m sure Kathy picked up somebody else’s story in the transport ship and she’s already forgotten all about you.”

Wade’s bitter tears continued to fall. Her assurances rang hollow in the small cell. Wade’s future was completely lost.

Two sleeping cycles later, the guards appeared and dragged the two women out of their beds and out of the cell. Wade’s knees were buckling as she realized this was it, she was being sent to a camp. She’d had so many nightmares about what her double had told her and was so disoriented from lack of sleep that now that it was happening, she didn’t know if this was real or another dream.

They were led to a large underground docking facility, where seven other women were waiting in a nervous group. In there was Mary Jane, happily reassuring everyone that the trip would be easy and everything would soon be over. Wade hid her anger at the woman and concentrated on the ship. It didn’t look like the usual Manta ship she’d known. It was larger, obviously a transport, but it also looked rather old and beaten up. And she apparently wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Two Kromagg officers were standing by the front of the ship, and one was yelling at the other and using probably every expletive in the Kromagg vocabulary. That they were speaking and not communicating telepathically was odd enough; that there was such extreme dissension in public—and in front of humans—was unbelievable. Wade glanced around to see that their guards were a few steps away, then whispered to her double, “What’s going on?”

She answered quietly, “The pilot doesn’t like the ship. It’s an old kind, he thought they were all decommissioned.” She listened to the arguing for a few moments, then nodded. “I’ve heard about these ships. They’re from before the Kromaggs started invading other Earths. They have a telepathic navigation system. It’s nicknamed the ‘intuition drive.’ The navigator thinks about where they’re going, and that’s where they end up.”

Wade frowned. “How can that work?”

“I don’t know. On our Earth before the invasion, physicists had discovered a weird thing, that if they split an atom and looked to see where the subatomic particles had gone, they were always where they looked. Apparently, where they looked for it determined where it would be. Nobody understood it. But apparently the ‘Maggs figured out the principle behind it and made their ships run on it. But when so many Earths started showing up, there were too many to keep track of mentally and so they switched to a mapping system and these things were phased out.” A guard pushed the other Wade’s shoulder and glared at her, and she lowered her eyes in silence. The guard went back to listening to the argument, and the two Wades exchanged concerned glances. Wade hoped the officer would win and they would have to wait for another ship to arrive to transport them, but, after a few more heated words, the officer arguing with the pilot lost his temper, and Wade didn’t need to speak Kromagg to know he’d ordered the pilot to use the ship or lose his life. Grumbling, the pilot obeyed and ordered the human cargo aboard.

The women were herded into the back. This ship obviously wasn’t designed to carry many passengers, because they were lined up along the ship’s sides in a cargo area behind an open-doored cockpit. They sat on benches and were tied in with one long seatbelt, and then a junior officer came from the cockpit and ordered them to be bound with a long rope tied around their wrists in a long, loose line that connected all of them. Only Mary Jane escaped the wrist line. She apologized to the others with a shrug. “Sorry. It’s just a precaution.” Wade noticed half of the other women nod in acknowledgment, and the others looked uncertain. Obviously, she had convinced at least some of the others of her good intentions. Mary Jane looked at Wade pleasantly. “It’s good to see you again.”

Wade smiled at her as the last Kromagg guard left for the cockpit. In quiet, reassuring tones, she said, “Mary Jane, do you know what a Judas goat is? Slaughterhouses use them to get sheep inside. The goat leads the way to the door, and the sheep follow. At the last moment, the goat goes to the side while the sheep go through the door. You’re a Judas goat, and we both know it. And if you say one more word, I’m going to rip these ropes off my hands and come over there and strangle you with them.” She offered the stammering woman a small, empty smile. “Do I make myself clear?”

Mary Jane looked at the others. They were staring at her, and they began to whisper to each other restively. The activity caught the attention of the guard at the door of the cockpit, and he came back and looked at Mary Jane, communicating with her telepathically. He turned and looked at Wade. He gave her a sharp backhand across her face. The slap stung, and he shot her a threatening glare before heading back to the cockpit door.

The others were looking at Wade, then Mary Jane, then Wade again. Wade’s cheek was red, but she looked at Mary Jane icily as the guard seemed to be telling the cockpit crew what had happened. The other Wade whispered, “So, why do you go along for the ride, M.J.? You like to watch? You get your kicks seeing other women raped and tortured? Do they let you help sometimes?”

Wade chimed in: “You’ve blown your cover. And they know it. You’re vulnerable now. This might just be a one-way trip for you.”

Mary Jane blanched, then untied her seatbelt rope and went to the cockpit door, where she was excluded by the guard. While their conversation went on, the other women looked at Wade in growing horror. “She works for them?”

Now that this nightmare was finally becoming real, Wade realized she had nothing to lose. “Everything she’s told you is a lie. Ask Wade,” she said, nodding towards her double. “She knows the truth. She worked in a camp.”

They looked at her. She said, “We’re going to hell, ladies, and we’re never coming back. There’s no reason to play nice.”

A mutter of panic spread through the women as an officer came back from the cockpit. He stood in front of Wade. He eyed her intently, and she heard his thoughts: “If you don’t stop, I’ll have both your legs cut off at the hips. Would you like that?”

Wondering if he would hear her, she thought back: “I bet the officer I’m reserved for would thank you by cutting off your head at the shoulders. Would you like that?”

He frowned at her, and she smiled with a grim satisfaction. It was short-lived, however, as he replied by punching the soft flesh under her chin, slamming her teeth together and rattling her brain. The others gasped as the officer returned to the cockpit and Wade watched the stars dance before her eyes. Her double tried to give her a reassuring touch, but the ropes around her wrists wouldn’t quite let her reach.

The crew locked the outside door, and soon the ship’s motor was idling. It wasn’t the smooth sound of the Manta ship, but the old engines worked just fine as the ship rose off the ground. It turned to the left as it hovered, then Wade, who was closest to the cockpit’s open door, saw a familiar sight appear before the ship’s front windows—a red-tinged vortex blossomed and opened its welcoming embrace to the ship. The transport ship powered forward, and soon they were flying through the tunnel of swirling energy and light.

The other women talked quietly among themselves, always aware of Mary Jane’s watchful eye. Their Judas goat had given up the pretense of being their friend and was now openly their guard. She was particularly attentive to Wade, who had recovered from her uppercut and was sitting quietly next to her counterpart. She had no need to lose a few teeth, so she said nothing to the others. She could see the foment she’d started spreading through the other women, and that was nice to see, especially since she could also tell how discomfited Mary Jane was by it. Her neck was probably on the line, but Wade couldn’t have cared less. Wade also noticed that her counterpart was quietly stretching the knots on the ropes tied around her wrists. Maybe, if she could work at it long enough, she’d be able to get her hands free. Wade nodded her approval so only her double could see. Even if they could do nothing to change their fates, at least someone was trying to fight back and she didn’t feel quite so helpless.

Wade closed her eyes and thought about what she had left behind and where she was going. She thought about her family, and about never seeing them again. At least her sister had been out of town when the Manta fleet arrived, so she’d been able to go underground and avoid detection. Wade missed her parents so much, and she hoped they didn’t know where she was going. She’d rather have them think she was dead than know the truth. But she was afraid they did know, and she could only imagine the terrible toll it was taking on them.

She thought about Rembrandt, and wondered where he was. She hoped he was okay. Probably not, she thought. He had no love for the Kromaggs, and there were times when his emotions got the better of his good sense. She hoped this hadn’t been one of those times. She thought about Professor Arturo, for once grateful that he’d been killed on that doomed planet so he wouldn’t know about any of this. With luck, she’d be dead soon, too.

She thought about Quinn, and the last time she’d seen him. They were on that awful island, playing out some cheesy “Island of Dr. Moreau” remake, and when it was time to slide, he’d chosen to stay with Maggie. He’d slobbered that big kiss all over her, it had almost turned Wade’s stomach. Then he opened the vortex and pushed Remmy and her into it. The last thing she saw as the wormhole claimed her was his face watching them go. What had been his expression? Determination? “What have I done?” Good riddance? She didn’t know. And after everything that she and Quinn had been through over the years, she was ready to let him go his own way. She’d long since passed through her infatuation with him into an abiding love, and that love was willing to let him do what he wanted to do. She wished him well. She didn’t wish the same for Maggie, but that was another matter. She knew if Quinn ever found out about what had happened to her, he’d come after her. Even Maggie’s bellyaching wouldn’t keep him from that. Their friendship was too deep.

That thought led to what the other Wade had said about their other counterpart, Kathy. She’d had no idea Kathy was unhinged. She’d seemed so normal. And she’d lapped up Wade’s stories with an eagerness that Wade had found so flattering. Would that now be her doom? Would Kathy take on Wade’s life and identity? Would she somehow throw any rescuers off the right trail? Was there a trail to follow? She knew how inefficient the Kromagg bureaucracy could be; even if someone came looking for her, would there be a way to trace her? And if there was, how long would it take to find her? ...How many Kromagg “pups” would she have produced before they could rescue her?

That led to the grim summation the other Wade had made. She’d called where they were heading a “rape factory.” As much as she understood the mechanics of it all, she just couldn’t comprehend what was waiting for her. She thought about rape, and the time she’d almost been raped. It was back on Sodom and Gomorrah World, when Abneer, the brothel keeper who’d owned Ani, had discovered her hiding in the house. He was going to teach her a lesson, and he was going to teach the disobedient Ani a lesson as well by making him watch. She thought about that terrible moment when she realized what he was going to do, and he pushed her back onto a small table against the wall and pulled out his dagger to slice open her jeans. She could almost feel his hammy hands on her, sweating and squeezing her breasts to hold her against the wall as he slipped the knife into the belt of her jeans to rip open her clothes. Only Ani’s frantic attack on his owner had saved her, but that had signed his death warrant for striking his master. She’d gotten Ani safely out of Gomorrah, only to see him mortally stabbed in front of Lot’s house in Sodom. Rembrandt had tried to reassure her that those strangers who joined them when they were safely across San Francisco Bay were angels and she could believe their prophecy that Ani would survive and have a long and happy life, but she just couldn’t bring herself to hope against hope that he was all right.

She thought about Ani, and about his kindness and gentleness, and his undiluted, boyish infatuation with her. She thought about their night together, and about how much she’d liked him. If only he’d come from a society that was this side of the Iron Age, she would have tried to bring him through the vortex so he could get real medical care for his stab wound and avoid the stigma of being a runaway slave. But she knew the culture shock would have been too much for him, and, even if he’d physically survived, his mind and heart would never have been able to adapt to another world. No, the barriers between them had been too high, and now he was probably dead and she was heading off to an interspecies rape factory. At least she had the memory of what sex and love were really about. If he couldn’t rescue her as he had before, maybe his memory could at least rescue her soul.

The ship shuddered, then lurched to the left, slamming against the side of the wormhole. The women reacted with surprise and grabbed onto whatever was handy, and the ship steadied. A guard came from the cockpit and looked at them, finally concentrating on Wade. He swore in Kromagg and reached back to slap her, but her double suddenly blathered out, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry.” She was taking the heat for Wade, although Wade didn’t understand what she’d done.

The Kromagg guard glared at her double. She had her head down in a pose of complete submission. He growled at her, then took a step to turn away. Wade shuddered as she felt a wave of anger suddenly boil out of him. A lifetime of hatred of humans and suppressed frustration erupted from him as he spun back and started shouting at the other Wade in Kromagg. Although Wade had no idea what he was saying, her counterpart obviously did and started to shake. He grabbed her tiny, bound hands and in two short, sharp pulls, he had the ropes loosened around her wrists. She was frozen with fear and couldn’t resist as he yanked her up over the rope at her waist and pulled her out onto the floor before the women. Wade started shouting at him not to hurt her while her double uttered feeble grunts of terror as the guard pushed her onto her knees and shoved her face onto the floor. In a swift gesture, he dropped to his knees behind her and had her baggy prisoner trousers and underpants pushed down past her thighs. He unlatched the front of his pants and clamped his large hands onto her frail, naked hips. Shrieks from the women filled the cargo room as the guard aligned himself and tried to force his way into her. Wade’s double shuddered out mindless, guttural cries, but she was in shock and could do nothing to fight off her attacker.

The women’s shrieks turned from outrage to shock as a Kromagg boot crashed into the guard’s head. With another kick, they realized a second guard was standing over him, pounding on him with his jackboots. The first guard lost his angle of attack but not his grip, and as he fell, he pulled the other Wade down with him. The second guard kicked him viciously several more times, swearing and shouting, until he let go of his prisoner. The battered guard rolled away from his attacker. He closed up his uniform and tried to fend off another few kicks as he scrambled back to the cockpit.

Wade looked at her double. Her pants were still down, but she was in a daze and didn’t notice. She was back up on her hands and knees, floundering around without direction or a sense of where she was. Wade called to her, trying to get her back, but even though she responded to her name, she didn’t seem to understand Wade’s instructions to straighten her clothes and come back to her seat. The guard looked at the dazed woman and frowned. He picked her up by the scruff of her loose collar and jerked her trousers up to her waist. He lifted the waist rope and pushed her down into her seat, then slipped the loosened ropes over her hands. He said something to her in Kromagg, and after a moment she nodded blankly. He growled at the other women, then returned to the cockpit.

As soon as he was out of sight, Wade took her double’s hand and held it firm. “You’re okay, you’re okay,” she said, knowing how stupid it sounded but wanting to pull her back from the void. She glanced at the other women, who were a collective portrait of horror. Only Mary Jane looked no more than a little agitated. Wade guessed she’d seen this before. For all she knew, her double was right and they let her watch in the camps.

As Wade concentrated on her soothing, it was the woman sitting on the other side of her double who raged at Mary Jane: “You traitor bitch!” she snarled. “Everything you said was a lie!”

Mary Jane looked her calmly in the eye. “That was strictly a matter of discipline. If you cooperate, that won’t happen. I promise.”

Her voice was as strong and reassuring as always, but the others now knew what her promises were worth. They began to whisper frantically among themselves, and after she let it go for a few moments, Mary Jane said with stiletto precision, “Would you like me to call the guard back?” A forced silence followed.

Wade soothed her double, who shivered in her near-catatonia and didn’t respond. She cooed reassurances as the others exchanged frantic, silent gazes at what had just happened. Well, Wade thought, there it was for all the world to see. This was their future. The other Wade was right, as much as she didn’t want her to be. No more denial, no more self-deception. Just time for a long, hard look at the facts.

Was there a way out? She had to admit she couldn’t have more than a five percent chance of rescue. Would she survive the ordeal, both mentally and physically? Would it be better to fight the good fight and try to survive it? ...Or would it be better to die from the hormones? Or die en route? She probably couldn’t antagonize a guard into killing her. He might damage her, but he wouldn’t dare kill her if she’d been reserved for an officer. She’d have to find some way to take care of that when she got there...if they left them unattended long enough for her to find some dangerous mischief.

Her double sighed out a groan, and Wade came back to the moment. “How are you doing?”

She shivered out more of the haze from her mind. “...Um, I don’t know.”

“You’re going to be okay,” Wade said, trying not to face the cruel irony of her words.

Her double shivered again, looking blankly at the floor before them. “God, I....”

“That’s okay,” Wade soothed.

But she would not be soothed. Her voice was barely above a whisper: “...I couldn’t do anything. My body just shut down. I couldn’t.... I couldn’t....”

“It wasn’t your fault. You were scared. We were all scared.”

The other woman continued to look at the floor without seeing it. As she spoke, she came back more and more to herself. “...I’m not afraid of dying. I’m not even afraid of being tortured.” She nodded slightly towards the floor. “...That’s the only thing that scares the hell out of me. From the first day I was sent to work in the camp, I tried to get out. I didn’t want to be around it. But the more I tried to get out, the more they noticed me. So, I just had to wait it out and hope I could escape. But I didn’t. And now they’re sending me back, to the inside. But I’m not going. I am never, _ever_ going to let them do that to me again.”

Wade could sense her double’s growing determination, but she didn’t understand what it meant or what she was going to do. She was now gazing across at Mary Jane, who was regarding her with a detached and haughty gaze. Her double broke off her stare and looked unseeing at the floor again, but Wade felt her intensity as she asked barely above a whisper, “What were you thinking about when the ship went out of control?”

“One of the Earths I was on.”

“Your thoughts were messing with their navigation system.”

Wade couldn’t believe it. “You mean, I can take us off course?”

“I bet any of us could, but you’re the closest to the cockpit, so your thoughts probably have more power.”

Wade’s mind raced. Could she take them back home? That would do no good, she’d just be going back to the same misery. Could she take the ship to one of the Earths she’d been on? That would only show the Kromaggs a new world to conquer. Besides, the ship’s navigator would fight her and wrest back control of the ship. Maybe she could drive the ship into a sharp turn in the wormhole, or a junction along the way, and make the ship crash. If they lived, there was always the chance they’d escape.

Mary Jane could see Wade’s gears turning and started undoing her seatbelt rope again. But Wade’s double was a whirl of action as she slipped from her loosened bonds and was across the cargo area in a flash. She gave Mary Jane a sharp elbow across the chin, snapping her head to the side and knocking her out cold in the blink of an eye. Mary Jane slumped against the woman next to her, who didn’t know what to do but wasn’t about to alert the guard. Wade’s double quickly resumed her seat and slipped the loose ropes back over her wrists.

She said to the others in an urgent whisper, “Okay. Now you know where we’re going. And you know what the Kromaggs think of us. There might be a way for us to escape, or die trying.”

One of the women began to cry. “I don’t want to die.”

Wade’s double hissed, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life being humped by one of those bastards and then killed when you’re not fertile anymore?” The woman’s tears fell faster, but she shook her head. “All right. Here’s what you do. Think about home, wherever that is. It’ll screw up the ship’s navigation. We might even be able to make this old bucket of bolts break apart.”

Another of the women gasped. “But we’ll die outside the ship. There’s no oxygen.”

Wade shook her head. “I’ve been through the vortex hundreds of times without a ship. There’s a chance we can force this ship off-course. ...Maybe we’ll crash, but maybe we’ll land someplace safe. I think that’s better than where they’re taking us. Anyone else with us?” The woman next to Mary Jane nodded, as did a few others, some reluctantly.

The woman next to the crying woman asked, “...So, what do we do?”

Wade’s double answered: “Think about home. As vividly as you can. Remember the people, the food, anything. Picture home and hold onto it as tight as you can.”

The others looked at each other, waiting for someone to take the lead, and the woman next to Mary Jane blew out a breath and set her jaw. She closed her eyes. The woman next to her fidgeted, then closed her eyes as well. The rest followed. Wade eyed her double, who was looking back at her. “Come on.”

Almost imperceptibly, the double shook her head. There was a cold, grim resolve in her eyes that sent a chill through Wade. Her double was talking escape to the others...but she was getting ready to die.

Wade faced the abyss. Was this escape or suicide? Maybe suicide was the only escape. She looked at the others. They were concentrating, their eyes closed and their minds churning with who knew what thoughts. Nothing was happening to the ship so far. It seemed that since she was closest to the cockpit, she was the key. Would her thoughts kill these women? Or would she give them a false hope that would only bring retribution from their Kromagg masters? She looked at the floor. Death couldn’t be any worse than that. She closed her eyes.

Wade tried to think of her mother and father, her sister, their house, anything from home, but a dozen other Earths flashed through her mind, and she found herself back in Gomorrah, sitting with Yasmi on the roof of the brothel, having a pleasant breakfast al fresco. She tried to remember the cafeteria food at her high school, but her mind skipped through her memory and she found herself back in Gomorrah, watching Ani and Bradur showering out in the brothel’s courtyard in the golden afternoon light. Well, okay. If she was going to die, why not think about Gomorrah as well as any other Earth? She pictured the scene again, remembering the two of them talking and laughing. She remembered how Ani looked, how handsome he was, the sparkling beads of water shining in his dark beard, the play of the shower’s stream over his well-muscled shoulders and arms. She remembered the moment when she realized they saw her looking at them, and she could hear their laughter when she ducked back out of view of the window. She moved her head back slightly at the memory, reliving all too clearly her embarrassment.

The ship lurched again, this time more forcefully. It slammed against one side of the wormhole, then the other. Wade heard shouts of surprise from the cockpit, and she even heard someone hit the floor. But she turned her mind back to Gomorrah, to the moonlit trip across San Francisco Bay—the Living Sea—in the small sailboat of Ani’s friend Tolonna, heading for the safety of the East Bay. She remembered the cool breeze on her face, the canopy of stars overhead, the pull of the tiller in her hands when Tolonna let her steer. She thought of their last few minutes on that world, and the strangers who took Ani away with promises of his complete recovery, and of that hillside above the bay where they waited for the fire and brimstone to claim the cities. She remembered the terrible earthquake that threw them all to the ground and sent their skeptical minds reeling.

The transport ship wobbled sideways in the vortex, spinning around and throwing the Kromagg guards tumbling across the floor as they came out of the cockpit. One was up on his knees and heading for the women as the other reached for a knife in his belt. He gripped the weapon and scrambled to his feet, heading for Wade. She knew if the ship didn’t crash, she would be dead in a matter of moments. She said her goodbyes to her family, and she asked God to be kind and make it fast.

The ship turned end up and hit the top of the vortex hard, sending it careering into the wall at a sharp bend. Some of the women screamed as the hull seam behind the cockpit door tore open, revealing the swirling energy of the wormhole. The seam ripped further, and the ship folded onto itself. A hard slam later, the ship shattered. The collapsing wall hit Wade’s head, sending sparks of light and colors through her vision. The last thing she saw was a shower of swirling debris and the floor beneath her feet falling away as the vortex swallowed her.

First Wade felt pain, pain in her head, her arms, her stomach, all over. The world was gray, but even if she couldn’t see, she could feel. And she could hear. There was a terrible fight going on not far away. People were being beaten. Savagely. With hatred. Someone was probably dying. Oh, God, no, were they in a breeding camp? What day was it? Why couldn’t she remember? How long had she been here? Did the Kromagg hormones erase your memory? Or was this what happened when you had a bad reaction to them and you were dying?

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she tried to flinch. “Wade.” A woman’s whisper, furtive, pained, afraid. “Wade. Can you hear me?”

Wade let out a grunt as she tried to open her eyes. Had she been beaten and she couldn’t remember? God, please, if this was Kromagg foreplay, she was ready to die immediately.

The whisper came closer, hovering just above her. “Wade. Wake up.”

She knew that voice. It was her anorexic double, and she was in pain. What had they done to her? She managed to get her eyes open for a moment, but all she could see was a flash of green next to her face before her eyes fluttered shut. “What...what happened? Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Wade felt two small hands on her shoulders, trying to encourage her to sit up. She tried, but the pain in her stomach was too much. This didn’t feel like a stomachache from bad drugs. It felt like she’d been kicked by a horse.

“...We’re not in a camp?”

“Hell, no. We crashed...someplace.” There was the fear in her voice again. “Part of the ship is here. I don’t know where the rest of it went.”

Wade forced her eyes open again, and this time she could see the green was grass, and they were on the slope of a hill someplace. She could still hear the fight, but she couldn’t see it. “What’s going on?”

“The locals are killing the Kromaggs.”

A bolt of fear went down her spine. Had they survived the crash, only to be killed by frightened natives? She gritted her teeth and forced herself up onto an elbow. Around her lay debris from the crash, maybe a quarter of the ship scattered around on the hill below her. A chunk of the cockpit had stayed somewhat intact, mostly the doorframe and one of the crew seats with a dead Kromagg still strapped in. She couldn’t see the fight, which was taking place just over the crest of the hill next to her. But people were definitely dying. It was an ugly sound, even if the Kromaggs deserved what they were getting, and she was afraid that sound would be part of her own future.

She looked at her double. She’d been badly injured in the crash, and she looked gray as she held an arm across the front of her abdomen. A deep gash across her forehead had spilled blood across her face. From the crust on the scab, Wade guessed it had been no more than half an hour since the ship had broken up and crashed in this unknown land. “Are you okay?”

“No. I think I broke something,” she said, coddling her slender waist. “I really hurt.”

Wade nodded in acknowledgment, then forced herself to sit up. She was pretty beaten up as well, maybe a few broken ribs and some major bruises. But from what she could tell, that might be the worst of it. Her legs worked, her lungs worked, so did her arms, her neck, and even though her back complained loudly, it supported her. She might live long enough to be killed by the creatures who were doing battle with the Kromaggs just out of sight. “Did you see what they look like?”

“They look human. But when they saw the ‘Maggs, they just fell on them. If the ‘Maggs hadn’t been so beat up by the crash, they might have taken ‘em, but they’ll be dead pretty soon.” She winced. “And maybe we will be, too.”

Wade tried to clear her vision. Maybe she could reason with the natives if she had her wits about her. Or maybe they’d just kill them quick.

She looked around the hillside. No buildings that she could see, no landmarks. She turned to look the other way. The slope of the hill led down to the water. They were on a hill overlooking San Francisco Bay, on the East Bay side, maybe near Richmond, or Oakland. But it was impossible to tell. There were no buildings. There were no cities. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. Oh, great, had they crashed onto an Earth where cavemen still ran things? She shivered at the thought.

But she looked again at the distant peninsulas reaching out to form the Golden Gate. What was that out there? She blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes to clear. There was something out there, something odd. It was a dark, lifeless stretch from what would be Palo Alto across to the Marin Hills. She blinked again. It wasn’t a building or a forest that gave the land its dark hue. It was the land itself. It was a dead brown with no hint of life anywhere.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” She couldn’t believe her eyes, but she knew they weren’t lying to her. “I know where we are!”

A sudden stillness descended on the scene. The fight was over. Wade knew she would need all of her skill—and a whole lot of luck—to survive the next few minutes.

She managed to get to her feet as the first men appeared over the crest of the hill. She gave them a gesture of greeting. “Thank you, friends, for rescuing us.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as bad as it did to her own ears. The men, five in number, stopped a short distance from them, eyeing the two warily. She knew those peasant clothes well. There was no mistaking it. She’d stood on this very hillside a hundred slides ago. They’d crashed onto Sodom and Gomorrah World.

The man closest to them frowned. “You look human.”

“We are.”

“What were you doing with those demons?”

Of course, the Kromaggs would look supernatural to these people. Her answer better be good. “They’d abducted us, taken us prisoner. And now you’ve saved us. We owe you our lives.” She tried to sound like she was speaking with strength, not like she was offering them their servitude.

The strength was working, but the gathered men were still on guard. They obviously had no idea what to make of these identical women who traveled with monsters.

“Are you from...Talan?” Wade said, trying to sound confident and hoping she remembered the town name correctly.

A few of them nodded. Yes, luck was with her. “Then perhaps some of you know a friend of mine. His name is Tolonna.”

The men reacted with surprise, and a couple glanced at a young man who stood in the center of the group. “How do you know Tolonna?” he asked cautiously.

“We traveled together once.” She pointed down towards the water. “Across the Bay. I mean, the Sea.”

The young man frowned at her. “Tell me your name, and I’ll tell you if you know him.”

“My name is Wade, and—”

A gasp passed through the group. The young man’s face was filled with astonishment, but after a few moments, he tried to hide it. “How do I know you’re Wade?”

Wade wondered what had happened after they’d left this Earth that her name would be recognized by people she’d never met. This young man was probably in his early twenties, and if she remembered Tolonna’s face correctly, he might be the man’s son. “Because I can remember his small sailboat. He let me steer part of the way across the Living Sea that night.”

The other men were looking at him, but he wasn’t so easily impressed. He looked at her, then the identical woman sitting at her feet. “We’ll take you to him. He’ll decide what to do with you.” Wade nodded, and she tried to help her double to her feet. The injured woman made an effort, but she couldn’t stand on her own. Tolonna’s son directed two of the others to her, and one picked her up.

Surrounded by their escort, Wade headed over the crest of the hill. She tried not to gag when she saw the debris field of what was left of two Kromagg bodies lying without dignity where they had fallen. The dynasty’s warriors had been no match for a handful of peasant farmers determined to save themselves from demons. Wade looked away and headed for the town of Talan and her fate.

The walk to the farming town took about two hours, giving Wade a lot of time to think and to look around. One of the men had run on ahead, and she wondered what that meant. The men didn’t talk to her, so she walked alongside her carried double and checked her every so often. She didn’t look good. Whatever injuries she’d sustained during the crash, they were bad and she was in need of major medical help. Unfortunately, there probably wasn’t any where they were going. As Wade walked, it occurred to her that her double might very well die, and she would be completely alone on this earth...and, with no viable hope for rescue, alone here forever.

When they arrived in the village of maybe fifty houses, it looked as if everyone had turned out to greet them. Certainly, their bizarre entrance into this world had earned them some instant notoriety. They were delivered to a group of men in the middle of the village, and the man in the center of the group nodded to them. “I am Tolonna. You asked about me?”

Wade had never seen this man before in her life. “You’re not Tolonna.”

He looked surprised. “I certainly am. Who are you?”

In an instant, Wade doubted her memory, then shook her head. “No, you’re not.”

He seemed amused by her insistence. “I should know who I am.” He looked at the others standing around him, who nodded in agreement.

Wade’s stomach sank. Was this some alternate Sodom and Gomorrah World, where she really didn’t know anyone? Before she had another moment in which to blurt out her terror, she heard a laugh off to the side. “You couldn’t fool her!” Next to her appeared the farmer she had met long ago, on the last night of the doomed cities across the Bay. He was smiling broadly at her, and in the relief of the moment she gave him a hug. After a few moments, she thought maybe she shouldn’t have done that, but she realized she must not have violated any major customs when the villagers around her reacted with laughter and a few handclaps of approval. Only then did Wade realize she must have passed some sort of test they’d set up for her. “Oh, the look on your face!” Tolonna said with an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry to frighten you like that.”

“What was that all about?” she asked him.

“They wanted to make sure you were the real Wade.”

She asked with caution, “How many people who look like me have been through here?”

He shook his head. “There have been a few impostors, but they were just silly girls put up to it by their parents looking for money.”

Only then did Wade notice how well Tolonna was dressed. He had been a simple farmer, if she remembered correctly, but now his clothes were much finer than she thought they should be for a man of the soil. It was beginning to come back to her: She’d taken Abneer’s money purse before she and Ani had escaped Gomorrah, and she’d given it to Tolonna just before they slid. Obviously, he’d put it to use. “People have actually tried to pass themselves off as me?”

He shook his head. “It was a nuisance for a little while after Ani left, but mostly it was silly.”

“Ani?” Wade muttered in astonishment. “He’s alive?”

Tolonna laughed. “He’s most certainly alive. He’s the first advisor to the king of Salem!”

Wade let out a quiet “Wow.” This was an interesting development. She’d been certain he died after they slid. ...But he was alive...and apparently important. But that didn’t matter at the moment. She looked at her double, who didn’t look at all good as she rested fitfully in the arms of the man who’d carried her from the crash site. “Tolonna, please, we need your help. She’s badly injured. Is there someone who can help her?”

Tolonna assessed the double’s condition and frowned. He gave an order to a teenage boy to find someone, and the boy took off at a run. “We don’t have a healer here. With luck we can find Aspa.” He indicated for the injured woman to be carried to his house, then led the way. “We’ll do what we can for her.”

Wade’s double was settled into Tolonna’s home near the center of the village. She looked ghastly, and Wade was afraid she wasn’t going to live very long, even with the best care this Earth could offer. She sat with her double after Tolonna’s two daughters had made her as comfortable as they could in their bedroom.

The other Wade coughed, then winced. “I think I busted a gut in the crash.”

“Don’t worry,” Wade said, “the healer should be here soon.”

“And do what? Give me a root to chew and make me all better?” She seemed resigned to her fate, which made Wade both uncomfortable and somehow a little relieved. “Did you notice how much of the cockpit of the ‘Magg ship crashed with us?”

“Not very much. Mostly the part by the door.”

Her double nodded. “Good. That’s what I thought. That means whatever homing device they had on board probably went someplace else. So, they won’t be able to find you here. You’ll be safe.” Wade didn’t know how to reply to her use of “you” instead of “we,” but her double distracted her with, “Who’s Ani?”

Her double had never known the Quinn on her Earth, if he’d existed, so she said simply, “This guy I met when we were here before.”

She smiled slightly. “From the look on your face when he said he was alive, I guess you knew him pretty well.”

Wade tried not to smile, but she didn’t succeed. “I guess.”

She smiled. “Just so long as he remembers you, that’s the important thing.”

A white-haired woman came in and sat by the other Wade. “My name is Aspa. Tell me where it hurts.”

Wade wanted to leave while the woman treated her double, but the injured Wade insisted she stay. Aspa listened to her description of her various pains, asked a few questions, then pushed a few spots on her abdomen, which made her cry out. Aspa looked at her sadly. “It’s in the Lord’s hands. But I think you’re going to die.”

Wade was surprised by her bluntness, but her double seemed to appreciate it. “That’s what I figured.” Aspa gave her some dried leaves from a pouch on her belt and told her to chew on them to help with the pain. She took a bite and shrugged at the taste.

The healer turned to Wade and gave her a quick examination. They agreed she probably had some bruised ribs, but that was the worst of her injuries. Aspa gave her a few more herbs from her pouch to help her heal, then nodded at the double, who was resting quietly. “Keep her warm, and stay with her. Maybe a day, maybe more or maybe less. I don’t know. If her pain gets worse, send for me.” She nodded and left. Wade looked at her double forlornly. She didn’t want her to die. She didn’t want to be left alone on this Earth.

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, the other Wade faded slowly. She was tended by Tolonna’s daughters and visited by several men who seemed to be the village leaders. They all paid their respects to the dying woman, who was grateful for the attention and never complained about her misfortune. Wade wondered if, in her double’s hard life on a Kromagg-run Earth, this was the most kindness she’d known in many years. It was hard to watch her die, and during one interlude when they were alone, she became teary. Her double shook her head. “Don’t feel bad for me. I got my wish. I wanted to die before I got to the breeding camp. I guess I should have been a little more careful about what I wished for. I should’ve been more like you. You wanted to escape. You got your wish. I got mine. Fair enough. Next time I’ll know better,” she said with a fatalistic wink.

That night she quietly went to sleep, and, in the hour before dawn, with her double and two attentive nurses by her side, she peacefully slipped away. Wade cried, and in the morning the villagers held a simple ceremony as they laid her to rest among their own ancestors. Wade felt terribly alone, but Tolonna’s daughters and his three sons took turns keeping her company as she faced the fact that she was all alone on this Earth and had no way to leave it ever again.

Farming life only allowed a week for mourning, and when everyone went back to their usual lives, Tolonna called Wade in to see him. He had obviously prospered since the last she’d been on this Earth, and yet he was the same affable man she remembered. “I hope you are beginning to feel better,” he said.

“Yes, thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you and your family.”

He nodded, pleased. “But now it’s time for you to go.”

She was taken aback by the suddenness of this eviction, and he read her face and smiled. “No, I don’t mean it that way. Aspa says you’re well enough to travel. It’s time for you to go to Salem.”

“Salem?”

“Yes. To go see Ani. Uh, Anifasran,” he corrected himself.

Wade had been thinking about this, and part of her wanted to see him. But from what the others had told her, she knew Ani had become a powerful councilor in the land of Salem, which from what she could gather was down in the vicinity of San Jose. Ani was a prominent member of his society now, second in standing only to the king. What would happen if she suddenly showed up unannounced, a tangible reminder of his unsavory past? There’s no way he’d greet her with open arms. Maybe she needed to check out his situation a little first before she presented herself. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Of course! I know he’d want to see you. He’d never forgive us if we kept you here and didn’t tell him.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure he wants to see me.”

He chuckled. “He talked about you endlessly. He got half the people in Talan believing you were an angel.”

She frowned. That explained some of the curious looks she’d gotten over the last week. But she wasn’t so sure he’d be happy to see her. “It’s been a couple of years. A lot of things have happened. When was the last time you saw him?”

“When he left here after he recovered and went to see Abraham. From there he went to Salem.”

“So, you haven’t seen him, either, since he became important.”

Tolonna shook his head. “I know Ani. No matter how much his station may change, he will not.”

Wade didn’t share his confidence. But she had to admit there was no place else for her to go. So, she would go to Salem, face whatever was waiting for her, and then try to salvage some sort of life in this dimension. Either way, anything here had to be better than ending up on a Kromagg compost heap.

The next morning, Wade set out with Tolonna’s three sons for the long walk to Salem. Kanrin was the oldest, the one who had been part of the group that killed the Kromaggs. He had been Ani’s best friend when they were children. Elanan was about twenty, and Kuo was maybe sixteen. The trip would take three days, but they were excited at the prospect of seeing Salem, as none had been more than twenty miles from home in their lives. They were also excited at the chance to see Ani again and see how well their childhood friend had done for himself.

The trip was uneventful, and Wade was grateful to be outdoors and free after being imprisoned for so many months. The countryside was beautiful, with farms and villages spread along the route south. The weather was good, so at night they camped out and ate food the boys’ mother had packed for them. Wade liked the brothers, who were honest, kind, and in turns playful and thoughtful. She was out of shape after her time in the cell, and even though they were never obvious about it, she knew they were slowing their pace so she could keep up. They took turns talking with her, and she guessed Ani had told them a lot about her during his recovery in Talan because they were curious about a thousand different details of her travels, her homeland, where she and her friends had gone after they parted with Ani, and so on. Kuo seemed a little suspicious that she might be an angel, despite her insistence that she wasn’t, but the older brothers apparently knew more than the youngest and only smiled when he commented on it. On the journey, they took care of her, teased her like a sister, and showed her Ani had had good friends in his childhood. No wonder he’d turned out all right in spite of what he went through after he left for Gomorrah.

As they began the last leg of their travels, Wade was worrying about what would happen when they arrived. Only Kuo seemed to share her nervousness at seeing Ani again now that he was so high above their station. Back in Talan, when Tolonna had insisted she go to Salem, it had made sense; now that Salem was a few hours away, she wondered what had come over her. What was she supposed to say to him? How was she supposed to act? The brothers were lifelong friends and had history with him; she was someone he’d known for a day and a half nearly two years ago. And their relationship was hardly based on anything resembling normalcy. Plus, he was important now. The brothers told her Ani had gone to Abraham after he’d recovered from his stab wound, and the man who would someday be the father of two nations had given him his blessing, given him a new name and herds of cattle and sheep, and sent him to the king of Salem; the king had welcomed him and given him a place in court, and he’d quickly risen to the rank of first councilor.

A lot had changed in Ani’s life. How much had he changed? Would he think she was showing up to get something from him, or so he could take care of her? Would he even remember her? This was going to be incredibly awkward. ...For all she knew, he might be married. How would he introduce her to his wife: “This is the last woman I had sex with when I was a prostitute.” Oh, brother. She’d been thinking this over and over along the trek south, but she hadn’t come up with a plan for handling their first meeting. She had a terrible feeling of dread as they entered the outskirts of Salem.

The town was prosperous and the people were friendly, so, with good directions, they quickly found their way to the grand complex that was the home of Anifasran, First Councilor to the King. The four travelers marveled at the large house and fine furnishings as they were escorted by a servant to a small reception room. An officious man came to meet them, and he introduced himself as Hoaplan, the major domo of the house. He inquired as to who they were, and when the oldest brother answered and made a special point to mention who Wade was, the major domo regarded her with what looked like a mix of disbelief and dismay. He covered it as best he could, then told them the councilor was at the palace and not expected to return home until that evening, when he was having a dinner party to celebrate the signing of a major treaty he had just negotiated. He added that he was sure the councilor would want to see his old friends briefly if he could, so he offered them a chance to bathe and rest before everyone arrived. Wade knew they were being put off, but she was a stranger here and decided against pointing it out to the supercilious man who stood between them and the person they wanted to see. She’d play along and see what developed.

The bath was a welcome treat, although it was a little disappointing to get back into her road-dusty clothes again. When she rejoined the brothers in the reception room, she noticed they all had a change of clothes. When a servant appeared with food and wine for them, Wade asked why they had gotten fresh clothes and she hadn’t, and the servant said Hoaplan had ordered them not to give her the usual change of clothing “since no one knew how to clean her clothes.” She looked at her pants, shirt and borrowed Talan jacket. Okay, it was obvious now that Hoaplan didn’t like her and wanted her to look bad when Ani saw her again. She could see where this was going.

They ate and talked and waited, each wondering what their reunion would be like. Servants came once in a while to tend to their needs, but they never saw Hoaplan again. A few hours passed, and the brothers’ high hopes began to fade. Ani was nowhere in sight, and even these simple farm boys could sense that they were being snubbed. Wade felt sorry for them, because they’d had much greater expectations of this visit than she had.

As the household geared up for the dinner party to come, the boys now only hoped for a glance of Ani as he passed by on his way to meet with his important guests. Their suspicions were confirmed when a man who identified himself as Hoaplan’s assistant came in and said everyone was running late and the councilor might not have time to see them—did they have a place to stay for the night? The brothers were horrified at the slight—as Ani’s friends, they should be automatically given rooms in the house—but Wade was prepared and coolly said to the man, “But of course we’ll stay here. The councilor would be very upset if he found out you’d sent us away.” The man knew he’d been caught and bowed in acknowledgment before leaving to make the arrangements. Wade noticed he pulled the curtain that separated the room from the main entranceway, but she wasn’t sure what the gesture meant. The boys grumbled at their treatment, and Wade apologized to them, knowing this had everything to do with her and nothing with them.

More time passed, and the sky began to fill with the colors of sunset. The brothers, who were used to keeping a sunrise-to-sunset schedule, were disappointed and expected to be escorted to their room at any time. Wade knew her one moment of opportunity would be upon them soon, and she would have to be the one to make things happen if she was to outsmart the major domo.

A few minutes later, a commotion of travel arrived at the door, and the four stood as they realized Ani and his guests had arrived. No sooner were they on their feet than Hoaplan’s assistant slipped through the curtain, leaving it pulled closed. He apologized, saying everyone had arrived together and so there would be no chance for the councilor to have an audience with them this evening. The brothers were disappointed and a little angry, and they shared it pointedly with the servant. As the large group moved out in the entranceway on the other side of the curtain, Wade saw her chance and slipped away from the men. With a prayer for luck on her lips, she pulled back the curtain and held it open.

In the entryway stood about twenty-five people, including a few personages of great importance. There at the lead, handing a staff to Hoaplan, was Ani. He was dressed in simple finery, much more modest than all the jeweled opulence around him, and yet to Wade’s eyes he outshone everyone in the room. He’d grown his beard again, and he was as strong and handsome as she remembered. All of her worries and doubts vanished in the moment as she looked at him.

She caught her breath when she felt a hand clasp her wrist. The major domo’s assistant hissed, “What are you doing?” as he tried to take the curtain from her grasp. In a moment she would be herded back into the room and hidden from sight again. It was now or never. She clutched the curtain tight, so it couldn’t be pulled from her hand.

“Ani.”

She had not spoken loudly, but the lively conversation in the entranceway ebbed as Ani turned at the sound of his name. When he saw her, he stared, dumbstruck. She gazed back at him, trying to read his reaction. But all she could see was shock. Then he blinked with surprise as he looked over her shoulder and saw his childhood friends smiling at him, and he managed a smile and a nod. His gaze returned to Wade. For all its intensity, it was completely unreadable.

The first councilor’s guests became restless in the uncertainty of this odd encounter, and in particular a young noblewoman of an elegant beauty who had come in with him followed the gazes back and forth with some concern. After another few moments, Hoaplan, who was the picture of chagrin and disappointment, saw that his master was blocking the flow of traffic into the house and indicated this to the councilor. Ani gathered himself and gave Wade a nod as if he wanted to talk to her but couldn’t. He let Hoaplan lead him away, and, with a last glance back at her, he disappeared.

The major domo’s assistant stripped the curtain from Wade’s grasp as he turned her back into the reception room. He was flustered and annoyed, but he said nothing about it as he told them that the dinner was a state matter and would last well into the night, so, as soon as the way was clear, they would be shown to where they were staying for the night. No sooner had he said this than a young servant appeared from behind the curtain and whispered something urgent to him. The man listened, clenching his jaw but nodding in agreement. “I’m sorry, there’s been a change in plans. You’ve been invited to the dinner.”

Even though she had hoped to spend the evening with Ani, Wade regretted being invited to dinner. It took place in a splendid banquet room, with all the guests sitting at one long table. Ani and the important people were all sitting at the head of the table, while she and the brothers were relegated to the foot. At one point during the meal, a servant came by and told them that his master had bidden him to apologize for the seating—the arrangements were already set and court custom had to be maintained. He said his master would stop by their rooms to see them after the evening was over. The three brothers accepted this as welcome news, but Wade wasn’t so sure this wasn’t a brush-off.

She watched Ani during the meal. He was gracious, comfortable, still the consummate people person. He would sneak glances at her now and again, but she was too far away to make real eye contact with him and know what he was thinking. In particular, she watched how he was with the beautiful young woman who sat at his left. She was obviously of noble birth from the way she acted, and Wade couldn’t help acknowledging how beautiful she was. Ani was attentive to her in a way that indicated she was important to him, and she was attentive to him in a way that had possession written all over it. Ani looked to be in his element, and on several occasions, laughter rang down the table after some comment he’d made that she couldn’t hear from so far away.

She didn’t eat much, although the food was fine. All she could think about was how good Ani and that woman looked, and how everyone around them treated them like a couple. Wade had been spare baggage before in her life, but she never enjoyed it. Well, it was time for Plan B on this world...whatever Plan B was.

After the last course had been served, Wade and the brothers were escorted from the banquet room by servants and taken to their quarters. Two beautiful rooms overlooking a garden had been reserved for them—that was probably Ani’s doing, not Hoaplan’s—and the brothers were exhausted after the long day and big meal and headed straight for bed. Wade decided to sit in the garden for a while. A crescent moon rode the passing clouds above the treetops, and she needed the cool evening air to clear her thoughts.

Okay, now what? She was stuck on this Earth for the rest of her life, so she had to make the best of it. Ani was married, and she was the baggage at the foot of the table. Where would she go, what would she do? There was no technology, so her Information Age talents were of no use. She couldn’t even read and write the local alphabet. What did women do in the Bronze Age? Marry and have children, that was pretty much it. Didn’t she need a dowry or something? With no family, she was stuck. She looked at the silver clouds passing beneath the moon and sighed. She could go back to Talan and maybe Tolonna would take her under his wing. Ani apparently had been quite generous to him with Abneer’s money; maybe he’d remember that she was the one who’d “liberated” it and give her a little so she could live off it. She wasn’t exactly farm wife material, but she’d make do somehow. As she sat in the walled garden, she thought about the irony of the moment—here she was in the free open air, able to go wherever she wanted, and yet she was almost as trapped as she had been in that Kromagg cell. Well, at least she wasn’t going to be in a Kromagg pup farm for the rest of her life. That was something, anyway.

Sometime later, Wade heard the dinner guests leave. They’d certainly been at it all evening. No one came out into the garden, and she was grateful for the privacy. Not long thereafter, she heard muted whoops of joy coming from the brothers’ room. Ani must have kept his promise to visit. He would probably expect to see her in her room, but she didn’t feel like talking with him right now. She had nothing to say.

She looked up at the setting moon and thought about her parents. She hoped they were okay, and her sister was still safe from the Kromaggs. She thought about her double Kathy, and she wondered where all the other women from the transport ended up. She supposed it was possible that they had each gone to where they were thinking about when the ship broke up. Those who weren’t thinking about someplace probably fell in with whomever was closest to them. She thought about the intuition drive, and the mysterious physical law that made it work. If it was possible that the connection between intention and destination applied to sliding without the intuition drive, then all the time she’d been sliding with Quinn, Rembrandt and Professor Arturo, they’d had the opportunity to go home—all they needed to do was focus their thoughts. Certainly, she’d wished each time that the vortex would drop them back home, but maybe vague wishes didn’t work. She shook her head. If only she’d known about this sooner, she could have gone back to Kansas anytime she wanted just by clicking her heels together three times.

How ironic, learning that handy little tidbit now that the game was over for good. No one knew where she was, and she had no way to slide. If Quinn and whoever was sliding with him tried looking for her, there would be no way to trace her as she was probably listed in the Kromagg databases as lost in transit and presumed dead. The Kromaggs wouldn’t be able to find her, but neither would anyone else. She watched the moon touch the top of the passing clouds. She’d never see her parents again, or her sister, or anyone else she’d ever known. She was here forever. Trapped in a world that had no way of comprehending her reality. Goodbye future, hello feudalism and futilism. She missed her family so much. If only she could send a message in a bottle to them, or interdimensional e-mail, or something. She brushed away a tear at the finality of it. Dead end. End of the road. It had all led to this, her life of unplanned wandering. She brushed away another tear. She had never felt so lonely in her entire life.

She heard footfalls off towards the rooms, and she saw a man standing at the edge of the garden in the dim moonlight. It was Ani, and he was scanning the garden. She watched him look for her, but she did nothing to get his attention. He’d find her soon enough. There was nowhere for her to hide. He finally spotted her and headed for the bench she was sitting on. She watched him approach, his face shadowed in the night.

He sat next to her and took her hands in his. “I’m so sorry.” He scanned her face, concern in his eyes. She regarded him with a surprising calm. “Kanrin told me about your sister. If I’d known you were in mourning, I never would have subjected you to that banquet.”

It took her a moment to understand. Of course, everyone thought her double was her sister. No harm in that. “That’s all right.”

His gaze at her had that same boyish affection she remembered from before, now tinged with wonder. “I’m so glad to see you. Where have you been? Where are your friends? Tell me everything.”

There was no way she could even begin to explain, so she said simply, “It’s been an adventure.”

“So I hear. Kanrin said a star appeared above the ground and you and some demons fell out of it.” She thought that was as good a description of what happened as any. “How was it that you were with demons?”

“We’d been abducted. After we left here, I finally got home, back to America, but these demons appeared and took me. They were....” She didn’t know how accurate to be. “They were taking us to their...world.”

His concern was palpable, but after a few moments he said with a hint of his old, sly edge, “How many times have you been abducted in your life?”

She smiled lightly in spite of herself—they’d met when he’d rescued her from being abducted by the evil Diehdan in Gomorrah. “A few times. I think I’ve lost count.”

“Indeed! Where were your friends to protect you from the demons?”

She thought for a moment, then told him in terms he would understand how the Professor had died and Quinn had left them to travel with a woman they’d met along the way—a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Diehdan, but no one else seemed to notice.

He said sympathetically, “That must have hurt you very much.”

“No, not really. I was sorry to see him pick her over us, but I was willing to let him go. It was okay.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “You sound as if you mean it.”

She smirked. “Yeah, I do.” He smiled, and she continued her story of their adventures by telling him that Rembrandt was back home in America, but it had been invaded by the demons that kidnapped her.

He pondered the whole of what she’d said, then gave her hands a squeeze. “What a terrible time you’ve had. I’m sorry.”

The heavy mood hung for a moment, and Wade couldn’t bear it. She looked around at the garden as she let her hands slip from his. “Well, I see you’ve had quite a time since we left.”

He shook his head. “You can’t imagine. It was as if I’d died and was born into a second life.” He beamed and rolled up his right sleeve above his wrist. He showed it to her proudly. “Look.” At first, she didn’t understand, but then she remembered he’d had a black band tattooed around his wrist to indicate he was a slave...and it was gone. She blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing it clearly in the fading moonlight. “The angels who took me to Talan did that. I was completely healed from the stab wound. Not even a scar. When I got my strength back, a messenger arrived from Abraham to bring me to him. He told me God had spared my life, and I was supposed to come here to present myself to the king. He gave me his blessing. He gave me a new name. And a new life. And cattle and sheep. And I came here and the king cared nothing for my lowly birth, only that I had been sent by Abraham. And he gave me land for the cattle and sheep, and he gave me a place in his court, and then I became first councilor. And now there are times when I can’t even remember what my life was like before.”

She smiled for him, even though she was a small part of that old life he could no longer remember. “Anifasran.”

“Yes.”

“What does it mean?”

He smiled slightly. “‘Ani who lived.’ I’m the only one who survived from Gomorrah and Sodom and came back.” His smile deepened. “Because of you.”

Oh, those dangerous eyes, she remembered them well, and they were giving her that “I see only you” look she also remembered well. It was time to put things in their proper place right now. “Yes, well, I’m sure your wife is very grateful.”

“My wife.”

“Isn’t the woman who sat next to you at dinner your wife?”

“Oh. The Lady Ctalan. No. She’s not my wife. Yet.”

“Oh.”

She looked away, hoping none of the rapid succession of concern, hope, and finally disappointment had showed on her face. She said, “Well, from what I saw of her this evening, I can see why you’d want to marry her.”

He looked up at the moon with an innocent glance. “Well, the king wants me to marry her. And her mother wants me to marry her. And the Lady Pieran is someone you don’t want to disappoint. Perhaps the Lady Ctalan does want the marriage as well. Certainly, Hoaplan wants her to succeed, as the Lady Pieran has given him a great many gifts to promote her cause.”

“That explains a lot.”

“You mean how you were treated when you first arrived?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “I’ll be having a very long talk with Hoaplan about that.” Wade guessed Hoaplan would not be enjoying that talk. He concluded, “So quite a few people want me to marry the Lady Ctalan.” He glanced at her for her reaction. “But I don’t want to marry her.”

Her unguarded glance up at him said a lot more than she intended it to. “Really. Why not?”

He offered a coy shrug and gaze at the moon. “She’s not the type I like.”

She was onto his game now, although she wasn’t sure where this was leading. “What type is that?”

“Oh, the Lady Ctalan is beautiful, and intelligent, and well-mannered in her way. But she’s never worked a day in her life. She assumes other people will do things for her. She believes rank is as important as talent, if not more so. She’s polite out of training, rather than respect. She believes success is her birthright, not something she needs to achieve.” He ended with a small, theatrical headshake of disappointment.

Wade asked in a neutral tone, “And what kind of woman is your type?”

He regarded her playfully. “Beautiful, intelligent, well-mannered in her own way, honest, strong, a hard worker, someone who’s willing to tell the truth even if it isn’t welcome, but who’ll tell an unwelcome truth to help, not to hurt. Someone who’s good in a crisis. Clever. Knows how to think on her feet. ...Someone who’s as comfortable having dinner with slaves as she is with nobles.”

She couldn’t quite hide her smile. “That’s a pretty tall order.”

He shook his head. “She doesn’t have to be tall. But pretty helps.”

She laughed as he looked at her fondly, but his face grew somber as he said quietly, “And she can’t be ashamed of what I was.”

Wade frowned. “What did she do?”

He looked at some flowers gleaming silver and gray in the moonlight. “When it became obvious that the king favored her for my wife, she and I met to discuss it. ...And while she was talking about items for negotiation, she said, ‘And if we are betrothed, I must honor my father and mother and not consummate the marriage before the ceremony.’” His hurt was palpable, even though he didn’t want it to be.

“What? You mean she just assumed that because you were....”

“...What I once was....”

“...That your whole life revolves around sex?”

Wade hadn’t gotten a favorable impression from the Lady Ctalan when she’d seen her, but now she was definitely annoyed with this woman. She took Ani’s hand. “I’m sorry.” He nodded slightly, still not looking at her. How ironic, she thought, that his future wife must not be ashamed of what he had been, and yet now he apparently was. The moment hung in the air glumly. She decided to lighten it. She clasped his hand in both of hers as she nodded seriously. “And it is important to honor your parents.” She offered a wistful shrug. “...But she sure doesn’t know what she’s missing.”

After a moment, a surprised frown spread across his face. He looked at her, and she nodded with confidential authority. After another moment, his laugh echoed throughout the garden. She laughed with him.

With the mood broken, they were their old, comfortable selves with each other, and he eagerly asked her more about her travels and more about her abduction by demons. She was reluctant at first, but then she told him the truth about why the Kromaggs were taking human women. The horror of it was more than he could bear, and he silenced her by enveloping her in a protective hug. He asked her three times if she was all right, and her third “yes” finally reassured him. The hug lingered, and then they both felt the energy shift between them. That old, comfortable connection was still there as well. The hug gave way to a gentle embrace, and Wade’s head swam with the pleasure of his closeness after months of sensory deprivation in the cell.

He caressed her cheek, and she thought he might kiss her, but he didn’t. In a soft voice, he said, “I have to be at the palace in the morning. And then I’ve promised Kanrin and the others a tour of Salem in the afternoon. But have breakfast with us, and then I’d like you to spend the day with my mother.”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

He smiled fondly. He kissed the tip of his finger, then placed it softly on her lips. “Save that place for me for another ninteen days, when your mourning period is over.”

She smiled. “Not that you’re counting or anything.” She nodded. “It’s all yours.”

Breakfast came at dawn, but for Wade it was worth the early wakeup call. The morning meal was as casual and friendly as the previous evening’s banquet had been formal and arranged. Ani, his mother, Wade, and the brothers from Talan ate a simple meal in the family quarters and joked and laughed and told well-worn tales from the boys’ childhood years together. It was reassuring to Wade to see how Ani had not changed, despite his elevated status, and he was as eager to hear of his friends’ lives as they were to hear of his. His time to depart for the palace came much too soon, and he left with assurances to be back for lunch so he could give his friends that promised tour of the city.

Wade happily spent the day with Ani’s mother. The woman—who was Mrs. Mallory’s double—could not find the words to express her gratitude to Wade for saving her son from the destruction of Gomorrah, and more importantly for saving his spirit. They had become so inured to the wickedness of the cities when they lived next door, she explained, that it wasn’t until she’d returned to her childhood home of Salem that she realized her son would be lost to her forever. She admitted that when she’d first heard of the mysterious woman who had rescued her son and then vanished, she’d believed the rumors that Wade had been an angel; but when she’d heard her son talk about his savior, she knew the mysterious woman was human and someone she could hope to meet someday. The two women hit it off immediately, and by the time Ani returned for the midday meal, they were fast friends. Ani noticed their camaraderie and seemed pleased, although he didn’t speak of it.

After their tour of the prosperous Salem, the brothers from Talan couldn’t help but recount every wonder they’d seen while the six dined together again at dinner. Such wonders! Such wealth! No one back home would believe them. They all chatted well into the evening, and then the farm boys could no longer stay awake and went to bed. Ani’s mother retired as well, and Ani and Wade spent the rest of the evening talking in the garden, enjoying the moon and the beautiful night.

The next morning, it was another early breakfast together, and then the boys went off to the weekly cattle auction while Wade again stayed with Ani’s mother. Their morning was interrupted, however, when an urgent messenger arrived from the palace with a complement of six soldiers: Wade was to come to court immediately at the command of the king. Wade was flustered—she had no idea how to act at court—but Ani’s mother reassured her that all would be well as she got Wade dressed appropriately. Fighting her nerves, Wade let her escort take her to the palace.

The king’s court was modest by her Earth’s standards but certainly a place of civility and pomp. She was brought into the great hall by the soldiers, and as about forty gathered nobles looked on, she was led up to the king. Standing to his right she saw Ani, who was the picture of dignity with his official robes and staff of office. He gave her a small, encouraging smile, and Wade noticed him give her Salem clothing an approving onceover. When Wade saw the king, she was surprised at how young he was. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five. From the way Ani had spoken of him and their first meeting two years ago, she imagined him to be much older.

The king nodded to her politely, and she suddenly realized she should bow or curtsey or something. She lowered her head and did an awkward curtsey, and then, when no one spoke, she said without thinking, “I’m sorry, I don’t...I don’t know how to act around a king.”

She heard a slight murmur around her, and the young man on the throne nodded. “A rule people like to observe is you don’t speak until I speak to you.”

Wade shuddered, but when she saw the king’s smile, she realized he’d taken no offense.

“So, you’ve never been to court before.”

“No...Your Majesty. Where I come from, we don’t have a king.”

The young man frowned. “No king? You have a regent, then?”

“No. We have what’s called a democracy. We elect our leaders.”

He was astonished. “You choose by consensus?” She nodded. The monarch looked at his first councilor. “I wouldn’t like that.” He eyed Wade with a sparkle in his eyes. “I might not be chosen.”

“From what everyone has said about you, Your Majesty, I know you would be.” Her reply was sincere and exactly what he wanted to hear.

He smiled. “And I’ve certainly heard about you.” He looked at the noble assembly. “Someone tell me, what is a woman’s greatest role?”

There was a thoughtful pause, and then someone said, “To bring forth the next generation, sire.” The king nodded in response.

Another person offered, “To make the home, which is the center of life.” The king acknowledged the statement.

Two others suggested, “To help her husband” and “To teach her children.”

The king turned to Ani. “Councilor, what say you? What is a woman’s role?”

Ani said simply, “I believe it is to be half of the whole.”

The king nodded and smiled. He looked at Wade. “And what do you say?”

Was this a trick question? She took a deep breath. “To be the best human being she can.”

The king beamed at her, then stood and offered her his arm. “Come. Walk with me.”

She looked at Ani, who nodded slightly. She put her hand on his arm and he led her through the parting crowd out towards a well-manicured garden. Before they left, in the crowd Wade spotted a formidable woman in her forties scrutinizing her severely. Wade tried not to react as she realized it could only be the Lady Pieran.

Once they were alone in the garden, the king patted her hand as they strolled. “So, you are the mysterious one who saved Anifasran’s life.” She didn’t know how to answer, so she simply nodded. “Have you been in Salem before?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“How do you like it?”

“I like it very much, Your Majesty. It seems very peaceful, and the people are happy.”

“Yes, we’ve been very blessed.”

Wade was beginning to like him. He seemed level-headed, a man who didn’t take kingship for granted. “Ani’s said many nice things about you.”

“But, of course, he has to,” he said seriously, then winked at her.

She smiled. “But from what he said, I thought you’d be a lot older.”

He nodded. “He was speaking of my father. He died last year.”

“I’m sorry. So, you’re the one who made Ani first councilor.”

“Yes, at my father’s recommendation. And I agreed completely. God was very kind to send him to us.” He patted her hand on his arm. “And you were very kind to save his life so God could send him.” She smiled. “Seeing you, I believe the stories that you’re an angel.”

“I’m not an angel, Your Majesty.”

“Of course, you would have to deny it in order to accomplish your mission.”

“Mission?”

“To marry Anifasran.”

“...Marry?”

“Of course. The priests prayed for you for nearly three months, and now here you are. If you were an angel, God would have to transform you into a woman so you could live among us.”

Wade needed to back up just a bit. “The priests prayed for me?”

“It was time for Anifasran to marry, and when he seemed reluctant to marry one of the Lady Pieran’s daughters, I asked him whom he wanted. He suggested the priests pray for the proper wife to make herself apparent. And here you are.”

“Wife....” She hadn’t taken things that far in her mind. She’d only just arrived; this was moving a little fast for her. She didn’t know if people in the Bible went on dates. Probably not. But marrying Ani...?

“Everyone’s been talking about the mysterious woman who arrived at Anifasran’s house and awakened his heart. I had to meet you for myself.” His smile was genuine. She could feel the respect the king had for his first councilor, and his happiness for his friend.

“I’m flattered, Your Majesty.”

He nodded. “Yes, you’re definitely the right one. The Lady Ctalan has her good qualities, but I can see you have what Anifasran needs in a wife.” He nodded again. “Yes. You’re the one.” Another firm nod seemed to settle it. The decision was made for her.

Even before they finished their walk in the garden, word began to spread that the king had chosen Wade to marry his first councilor. By the time they returned to the throne room, the court was buzzing with the abrupt and amazing turn of events. Some people were pleased, but Wade noticed the Lady Pieran was absent and a large contingent was visibly unhappy with the news. Wade assumed these people were the imperious lady’s friends. It was all Ani could do to contain his joy in the solemnity of the court, and when they returned home to share the news, his mother was ecstatic.

Wade was troubled by this decision that had been made without asking her what she wanted, and while the house was alive with activity at the news, she sat quietly through dinner and then escaped to the twilight sanctuary of the garden. Scrolls of paper and an inkwell and several battered quills sat abandoned on a table in a corner of the garden, and she looked at them glumly. The tools of her trade...from some other life. She looked at one of the scrolls and noticed a childish script in this world’s alien alphabet. What was she doing here? Half the people she met thought she was an angel. She was just some would-be poet and computer geek who fell out of a star one day. She didn’t belong here. And now she was supposed to marry the second most important man in a Middle Bronze Age kingdom straight out of the Old Testament? _Oy, vey_. She sighed as she sat on a bench near the table. What was she going to do? Her eyes rested on the scrolls, although her mind was a million dimensions away. Well, first things first. She had to tell Ani the truth.

“There you are.” She was startled to hear his voice so suddenly after her resolution. He sat next to her and beamed at her. Even her lackluster reaction couldn’t dim his joy. He looked at the scrolls on the table. “Ah, me. I’ve got the messiest slaves in Salem.”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “Slaves? You own slaves!? You of all people? How could you own another human being after what you went through?”

He regarded her calmly. “I see you’ve lost none of your zeal for judging others before you know what you’re talking about.”

She deflated. There was no one who could take the wind out of her sails as well as he could.

“Slavery in Salem is very different from what it was in Gomorrah. There they owned you, body and soul, for the rest of your life unless you could raise enough money to buy your freedom. Here you own the person’s labor, not the person, and only until the debt they incurred is paid off. So, I don’t own the slaves, I don’t own their belongings, and,” he gestured vaguely towards the scrolls, “I certainly don’t own their children.”

She nodded. It was something like being an indentured servant. That made sense. And she looked at the child’s writing on the scroll fondly. “And you’re teaching the child how to read and write.”

He smiled slightly. “I’m not. But if anyone wants to learn, I will have them taught.”

She looked at the scrolls wistfully. He was such a good man...but would he be able to handle what she was about to tell him? Would this hurt him? No matter—she owed him the truth.

“You’re so serious,” he said solicitously. “I thought you’d be a little more joyful.”

“Well, marriage, it’s a pretty big step.” He didn’t understand her concern. “I mean, we knew each other for two days two years ago, and now we’re supposed to get married...?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I mean, we hardly know each other. How do we know we’re compatible? Shouldn’t we get to know each other and know we’re really going to like each other before we think about something so permanent?”

His face betrayed his amusement. “If you’re not here to marry me, why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

“The priests at the palace temple prayed from the first day of Patani for the woman who would be my wife to appear. And now here you are.”

“What’s Patani?”

“A month. It begins with the first new moon after the summer solstice.”

Something about that sounded familiar, and she tried to dredge it up from her memory. She remembered talking with her best friend the night before she was abducted by the Kromaggs. They were commiserating on how hard life had become since the Kromagg invasion, and her friend had commented that it was the new moon that night, and in astrological terms that was a time of good luck, so maybe things would turn around for them. And the next day, Wade was taken. When had that been? Early July.... It had been the first new moon after the summer solstice. She shivered.

He put a solicitous hand on her arm. “What’s the matter?”

“The day the priests started praying for your wife, I was abducted by the demons.”

He saw no irony. “The Lord is infinite in His mysteries—having demons do His work for Him.”

She shivered again, trying to shake off the spooky feeling. “Yeah, well, I don’t think so. But, I mean, this is awfully sudden. We don’t love each other. We hardly know each other.”

“What does that have to do with marriage? Most marriages are arranged. They’re about money and advantage. The affection comes afterwards.” He smiled. “We have a bonus in that we already like each other. The only objection would be that your family is far away and unknown, but with the king’s blessing, there’s no reason to worry.”

“But.... It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. And a lot of miles. For both of us. ...And you’ve had two years to think about what happened, and about me, and to create a fantastic image of this woman who appeared from nowhere, saved you, and then disappeared. I mean, how many people think I’m an angel? How can I live that down? I can’t compete with two years of wishing and embellishing. I’m just a person. And I’ve got just as many flaws as the next one. You’re looking at me like....” His tender gaze was indeed distracting. “Like I’m a dream. I’m not. I think you need a little time to remember what I’m really like.”

“Oh, I remember. I remember all the arguments we had. And who started them.” He smirked a bit. “I remember your temper. And your quickness to judge. And how you start things before you think them through.” He took her hand affectionately. “I also remember how you were the first person in years to treat me with respect and concern, like a human being. At the time, I didn’t understand why you cared about me. All I knew was you were the only one who did. And you risked your life to save me.”

“I don’t want you feeling like you owe me something for that. Don’t marry me because you’re grateful.”

He could see he wasn’t getting through and shook his head. “Wade, when I saw you standing there in my house, I felt as if...my right arm had been given back to me. I felt as if part of me that had been missing had been restored. You changed my life. You made me whole. I am a better person because I knew you.” That was too over the top for her and she had to look away. “I mean that. Before I met you, I was a good person, a good friend, I cared about people.”

“You cared enough about a total stranger to risk your safety by rescuing her when she was being kidnapped.”

“How do you know I didn’t do that to annoy Diehdan rather than to save you?”

She shrugged. He had a point.

“But you changed me. Before I knew you, I....” He had to summon up how to say this. “I had sex with strangers. I did whatever they wanted. Even if I didn’t like it. Even if it hurt someone. And then you changed me.” His heartfelt words were getting to her. “The reason people think you’re an angel is not because you traveled with those two angels and then you disappeared. It’s because I was a completely different person after I knew you.” He strengthened his grip on her hand. “I need you in my life, Wade. I need your help. Your strength. Your kindness. Your fire. I need you to make me whole again.”

She had no idea how to reply.

He grew serious. “I have so much to offer you. But you don’t seem to want it. You don’t seem to want me. Is it because when you look at me you see Quinn?”

“No.” She let slip a smile. “Lucky for you.”

He smiled at that. “Then why don’t you want to marry me? What stands between us?”

She sighed. The truth was standing between them. She couldn’t put it off now. There was no time to prepare her explanation. “It’s not that simple. I have to tell you something. You need to know where I’m really from.” He could feel her seriousness and frowned. But how could she find a way to make him understand? Her eyes finally focused on something in the scroll on the table before them. It was a hole. It looked like a bug or a worm had eaten through the scroll. It made sense to use scrap paper for a child’s lessons. Then it hit her. She smiled. Yes, it was too funny. With a few adjustments, it would be the perfect visual aid. “May I cut this scroll apart?”

Her request baffled him, but he nodded. She looked around for a knife, but there was none on the table. She was about to ask him for one when she saw him offering one to her. She caught her breath. It was the jewel-encrusted dagger she’d taken from the unconscious Abneer before they fled Gomorrah. She saw the equally-jeweled scabbard on his belt. She looked at him.

He said simply, “I have it so I’ll never forget Abneer. I must never forget him.” With a nod of understanding she took the weapon from him. “Besides,” he added quietly, “it’s all I have left to remind me of Yasmi, and Bradur, and all the others.”

She looked at him. They both knew he was probably the only one who mourned his friends from the brothel. God, how could she not fall in love with this man? But right now, that wasn’t the point. If she hadn’t already started this, she would have chickened out. Would he believe her? Would he think she was crazy? ...Would he want to have anything to do with her once she told him?

She sliced the scroll into roughly even pieces, then folded them in half to keep them together like a booklet. As she returned his dagger she said, “You keep written information on scrolls. Where I come from, we keep it like this, in things called books.” She closed her makeshift book and took a deep breath. God, if You’re watching, she thought, I could use a little help here. “I told you that I’m from a place called America. Everyone assumed it was some far-off land. It isn’t. It exists in this exact same place. But it’s invisible to you.” He frowned as she opened to the first facing pages of her book. “Pretend this is the world. Salem, Talan, everything you know, is on these two pages.” She turned to the next set of facing pages. “This is where I’m from.” She closed the book. “They’re right next to each other, occupying the same space.” She opened the book again to the first facing pages, then the second. “But each one of these can’t see the other.” He was looking at the pages seriously, and she hoped this was making sense. “And the only reason we got here two years ago,” she turned to the first page, “from here,” she turned to the second page, “is because Quinn built a machine that could create a wormhole between the different worlds.” She thumbed through the pages, then opened to the second page and pointed to the hole that led to the first page. “We traveled through the wormhole his machine created, and we came out here.” She turned to the first page.

He looked at the page hard, obviously trying hard to fathom the unfathomable. “You told me this once before.” It was her turn to frown. “You said if you didn’t leave in two days, you’d be here for twenty-nine years.”

She was astonished. “I did? I don’t remember. When?”

“You were angry at me. One of the times you were angry with me,” he added lightly.

She racked her brain as he looked at the page again. She had no memory of telling him that, but she must have. She continued, “The reason I vanished after you and Tolonna left is because we opened another wormhole and went through it to another Earth.” He was still looking at the page, trying to make sense of this. “Kanrin told you that the demons and I fell out of a star. It wasn’t a star. It was this,” she said, pointing to the hole in the page. “That’s what it looks like. The demons—the Kromaggs—can slide between Earths, too.”

He touched the page. “So, someday you’ll find this hole and go back.”

“No, I can’t. You need something that’s like a key to open the vortex, and I don’t have it. Quinn kept it. The Kromaggs had a key, too, but their ship was destroyed in the crash, and the key was destroyed with it.”

He pondered this. “How many ‘Earths’ are there?”

“I don’t know. Hundreds. Thousands. Maybe an infinite number.”

She noticed his frown start again as he considered this, then looked up around them. “Do they all look like this?”

His question surprised her. Maybe he was actually understanding this, at least a little. “Well, sort of.” She thought of something and picked up the pen. She opened the bottle of ink and dipped the tip in the ink, then wrote the letter “a” on each of the pages. “On my Earth, we have the Living Sea as well,” she said, pointing to the “a” on the first page, “but we call it San Francisco Bay.” She pointed to the “a” on the second page. “Where Gomorrah was, that same part of the peninsula, on my Earth is a huge city called San Francisco. All around, from Talan down through Salem up through Gomorrah, there are millions of people living in a big string of cities. Back home across the Pillars of Baal is a bridge. We call that the Golden Gate, so it’s the Golden Gate Bridge. Some of the Earths are almost exactly identical to home, with the same people, the same cities, just a few things are different. Some are very different. Like this Earth.”

“...So, your world is very different from here.”

“Yes.” Before she could think about her words, she said, “We went through this time, but it was about five thousand years ago. Now it’s totally different. There are things I take for granted that you would think are magic. I mean, we have wagons that travel on their own, without being pulled by a horse or ox. We can talk with people who are hundreds, even thousands of miles away. We have machines that fly through the air carrying people. I mean, human beings have traveled to the moon and back.”

He frowned at her thoughtfully, then looked at the pages for a long time. He looked at the first set of pages, then flipped to the second. He pondered this, then gazed at her. “So, the reason Quinn looks so much like me is because he’s the me from your Earth.”

Wade was stunned. He understood something so alien! But of course, even if Ani’s world had no advanced technology, he still shared Quinn’s genius. “...Yes.”

He didn’t seem to like her answer. He stood up and looked at her restively. She continued, “We all have doubles. The woman who died in Talan, the one everyone thought was my sister, wasn’t my sister. She was one of my doubles from another Earth.”

She’d meant that to reassure him somehow, but it only made him more concerned. “How many other mes are there?”

She guessed he didn’t like the idea of not being unique. “I don’t know. But you’re not identical. You’re all different. One of your doubles was even a woman.”

Again, her attempt to make this easier for him backfired. He looked around the garden with agitation, then looked at her as if she were from Mars. “Why did you tell me this?”

“I wanted you to know the truth about me, and where I came from. If I didn’t tell you, it would be the same as lying.”

He considered her answer, and it seemed to help, but not very much. “I’m sorry, I need.... This is confusing....” He looked as if he wanted to say more, but he turned and left in a cloud of uncertainty. Wade sat alone on the bench, utterly miserable. She’d thought this might disturb him, but she wasn’t prepared for this. She’d done everything wrong. She’d tried to reassure him, but all she’d done was intimidate and frighten him. She looked at the makeshift book, then threw it onto the table.

Ani was absent at breakfast the next morning, leaving an apology with his mother that he was needed at the palace early and might not be back until late that night. Ani’s mother knew something was wrong, and after the meal was cleared away and the boys from Talan had left on another walk through the city, she asked Wade if she and Ani had had a fight. Wade said they had and left it at that.

She spent a very long day wondering what would come of this, and she wasn’t reassured when Ani didn’t return home in time for the evening meal. Ani’s mother said that wasn’t so unusual, although he did usually send a messenger saying he would be away if he knew he would miss dinner. Everyone went to bed early, but Wade couldn’t sleep. She paced her room for a while, but she couldn’t stand being alone in confined quarters with such uncertainty around her, so she put on her robe and went out into the garden. It was a clear night, and the few torches that burned at the edge of the garden were rivaled by the brightness of the first quarter moon. She headed for her favorite bench, but when she was a few steps away, she gasped when she saw Ani sitting there. The sound startled him, but their mutual surprise didn’t break the ice. She stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do, then he gestured for her to sit next to him. She did, uncomfortably. They sat side by side for a while, each looking at anything besides the other. She finally said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, you were right to tell me the truth.”

“And I understand completely if you want me to leave.”

He nodded thoughtfully, and Wade became nervous as the pause before his reply lingered, then became a long stretch of silence. After a few minutes, he said, “So, if you need a key to get to your home, and you don’t have that key, you’ll never see your family again.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“That will make you sad.”

“Yeah.”

“But your friends have that key.”

“Quinn does.”

“Does he know you were taken by the demons...the Kromaggs?”

“I don’t know.”

“If he finds out, will he look for you?”

“Yes.”

He stood up slowly, then faced her from a polite distance. “If we married, and then someday one of your friends came for you, and you could leave and go back home to your family and your world of wonders, would you go?”

Wade was surprised that she’d never seriously thought about it that way. She guessed he wanted an instant “no,” but there was too much between her and an easy answer. She didn’t expect to be found among the infinite number of Earths. And marriage, even if it wasn’t her idea, was a commitment she took seriously. But never seeing her family again hung over her like a dark cloud. And living forever in a place without electricity or real plumbing or anything normal.... What if she got desperately sick and no one here could treat her? What if she couldn’t stand living in this backwards, backwater Earth? What if she and Ani had too many differences and grew to hate each other? How could she promise to stay forever, when she didn’t know the future? She said quietly, “I don’t know how to answer that.”

He nodded. “You did. With honesty.” His face was in the shadow of the moon’s light, but she thought she saw a hint of a smile. “I believe every wife, if she is unhappy with her husband, should have the right to return to her family. ...I’ll have to work very hard to make you want to stay.”

It took a moment for what he meant to sink in, and when it did, she lowered her head and smiled, then looked up at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

“I still remember every argument we ever had. And who started them.” She had to chuckle at that.

Okay, it was time to look at the tally sheet. The pros: He liked her; she liked him; he was powerful and rich so she wouldn’t have to be a laborer on this Earth for the rest of her life; she and her future mother-in-law liked each other; and, well, the sex would be great. The cons: She had no idea how to act in his exalted circle; a large number of people in that circle didn’t like her because she’d supplanted their favorite; despite his protests, Ani might have created a vast and erroneous memory of her that she’d have to live up to; she had a supernatural mythology around her that she’d have to deal with; she thought marriage should be based on love, not logic.

Ani watched her mull things over, then said simply, “We’ll go see Abraham. He’ll know what we’re supposed to do. Will you abide by that?”

“...It depends on what he has to say.”

He looked around with theatrical exasperation. “How did I know you would say that?”

“Because it’s the only intelligent thing to say?”

“No, because it’s the stubborn thing to say.” He knelt before her and took her hand. “Wade, I don’t know what you want. Please tell me.”

The sincerity in his eyes made her look away. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Then we’ll see Abraham. You’ll like him. He’ll make things clear for you.” His earnest gaze captured her eyes. “Please?”

How could she say no? “All right.”

The journey to Abraham’s lands took two days on horseback, heading northeast. For the first day, they were accompanied by the brothers from Talan, who parted company with their old friend at his lands given to him by the king of Salem. There Ani gave them sheep and cattle from his extensive herds to take back to Talan. The irony was lost on none of them that on their journey south to Salem, they had slept in a copse of trees less than half a mile from the house on Ani’s land. With tears and heartfelt promises to return often, the brothers took their gifts and Ani and Wade’s good wishes and headed north.

Early the next afternoon, bringing along a gift of apples from the west and oranges from the south, Wade and Ani arrived at the tented encampment belonging to Abraham. Wade wasn’t up on her valley geography, but she guessed they were somewhere in the vicinity of Stockton. It was certainly the wide open spaces out here, and somehow it made sense that the shepherd who owned all the land as far as the eye could see would choose to live in the functional tents of a nomad rather than something grand and artificial.

As they approached the largest tent, Wade was surprised to see a strapping man waiting for them. He looked about sixty, although Ani had mentioned he had recently turned ninety-nine. He had the look of someone who would never be happy living anywhere other than under the open sky. He nodded to them, then said to Ani, “It’s good to see you again. The Lord said you would be coming to visit today.” Ani nodded to Wade with a “see, I told you” wink, but she was not fully prepared for a world with this kind of casual contact with the Divine. Ani introduced Wade to Abraham, and she was only able to stammer a little as she looked upon a simple shepherd who would be revered through the millennia. He nodded to her and said, “The Lord told me a little about you, but not much. Why have you come all this way?”

She had no idea if he meant all the way from Salem or all the way from a thousand dimensions away. “Ani—Anifasran—wanted to ask you some things, especially about me. Um, us.”

Abraham nodded. “You’re the one who rescued Anifasran from Gomorrah, are you not?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry you couldn’t do as much for my nephew and his family.” Wade read his face to see if there was irony or rancor behind his words, but there was none.

“So, they never came back?”

“No. The Lord told me their shame is too great. I’m sorry, since the Lord and I both forgave them. But they could not forgive themselves. I’m reconciled that I’ll never see him again.” He looked at Ani. “What do you wish me to ask the Lord?”

“I’ve asked Wade to marry me, but she doesn’t know what she wants. I hope you can ask what’s best for her.”

The man nodded, then regarded Wade with a wise, fatherly eye. “I’ll ask. Please, go into my tent, and my servants will feed you. I’ll let you know when the Lord is finished.” He pointed to the largest tent, and Ani bowed and led the way. Wade followed, but she kept looking over her shoulder at Abraham, curious and fascinated and skeptical all at the same time.

They had finished a fine lunch of lamb, flatbread, and oranges when a servant came in and told Ani that his master was ready for him. The servant pointed the way to a quiet arbor, and with some trepidation Wade followed Ani into the trees.

They found Abraham sitting contentedly on the ground in the shade of a large oak tree. He indicated for the two to join him, and they sat down. He smiled at Wade. “The Lord is very pleased with you. He also says you know things about me that I don’t even know.” She had no idea how to respond to that, and he read her consternation. “He tells me things, and I don’t always understand them. Sometimes I try to repeat it, but I get it wrong. So, if I tell you something that doesn’t make sense, please let me know.” She nodded. “The Lord said you’re in this world because He wants you here. I think He really said ‘on this world,’ but I may have misunderstood. Does that make sense to you?”

Wade nodded slowly, trying not to get spooked.

Abraham continued, “And He said this is your own doing. He said because you rescued Ani two years ago, he was in the right place to rescue you now. Does that make sense?”

Wade managed to find her voice. “Yes.”

“He said all your travels have been purposeful, even if you didn’t understand at the time. He said you usually did the right thing, and He’s very pleased.” Wade tried not to smile. “He said He wants you two to marry. You make a good pair and complement each other well.” Wade could see Ani smiling at her, but she wasn’t going to dignify his “I told you so” smirk quite yet.

The father of two nations turned to Ani. “Anifasran, He says to you, listen to Wade. Trust her. She knows things you can’t possibly comprehend.” It was Wade’s turn to smile, but Abraham’s next words softened her smugness. “Wade, the same instructions are for you. Listen to Anifasran. Trust him. He understands things that you can’t begin to know. If you work together, He says, you can make this world a better place.”

She nodded obediently.

“He’s also giving you two gifts. From now on, your name is Susa-wada-na-le.” Out of the corner of her eye, Wade saw Ani react significantly, but she didn’t think this was the time to interrupt. “Susa-na-le is the short way. But the king and court must know the long name, and that it came from the Lord through me.”

Ani nodded, and she did the same.

Abraham continued, “The other gift is the gift of dreams. You will be able to interpret them, but you will also have dreams that mean what you can’t explain.” Wade’s brow furrowed. “You’ll understand. The Lord said He wants the two of you to sleep in the same bed tonight. Do not co-join as husband and wife, merely sleep. You’ll understand in the morning.” He smiled sweetly at them, then held up his hands as if to pronounce a benediction. Ani got to his knees and bowed his head, and Wade followed suit. Abraham said, “The Lord’s blessings are upon you, now and always. Go in Peace.” He smiled. “Now, please, enjoy the hospitality of my home.”

They arose and headed back to the tents. Wade asked quietly, “What does Susa-wada-na-le mean?”

“‘She has walked beneath other stars.’”

Wade shivered, the tremor coaxing a surprised groan from her. Ani merely smiled and took her hand.

That night, the two dined with Abraham and his household. Wade was particularly interested in the strong-hearted, practical Sarah, but she didn’t know what to say to this matriarch of matriarchs who did not yet have a child. The evening passed pleasantly, and then they were shown to a guest tent. As instructed, they shared a soft bed on the carpeted floor. It was a little awkward and exhilarating being together again like this, but Wade’s uncertainty about what they should and shouldn’t do was assuaged by Ani’s gentle smile and reassuring grip of her hand. Wondering what was going to happen next, Wade drifted off to sleep. And she had a dream.

She was walking through a mist, but, as the gray swirls parted, she found herself walking down the street to her house in San Francisco. Talking together at the front step were her parents and sister. After a round of astonishment and a tearful exchange of hugs, Wade told her family that she was all right and explained where she was and how she got there. She was pleased to hear her family was safe, and her sister was hidden in Montana away from the Kromaggs. “I don’t like Montana much,” she groaned, “but the Kromaggs like it even less, so that suits me just fine.”

Wade shared news of her travails, minimizing the grimmest aspects, and then shared her astonishing news—she was getting married. Her family was startled and pleased, and when her father asked who the lucky man was, Wade turned and saw Ani approaching behind her, marveling at the buildings and strange wonders of her city. She introduced him to her family, and while he was a little self-conscious, he took the strange encounter in stride.

By now, Wade realized this dream wasn’t just a dream, and as she watched her dad give Ani a fatherly quiz on his intentions, she knew she needed to do something so the others would realize it as well. Once Ani got her father’s handshake of approval—Wade had to coach Ani through the gesture—she said to her family: “You need to know this isn’t a dream. This is really happening. I’m going to give you a codeword. And when you wake up, and you compare notes on this, you’ll remember the codeword and know this really happened. The codeword is....” She thought of the trees of Abraham’s arbor. “The cedars of Lebanon.” She could feel herself beginning to wake up, so she gave her family another hug and smiled when Ani suggested they could do this again when they had their first child. The swirling mists of the Bay gathered, and then the dream faded to white.

Wade woke up in the tent to the gentle sound of rain. She sat up and blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had just happened. What a crazy dream! She looked at Ani, who sighed softly and opened his eyes. He smiled sleepily. “What are ‘the cedars of Lebanon’?”

As Wade and Ani rode back to Salem, Wade’s mind raced through a thousand different details. Had the dream really been what Abraham had promised, or had her subconscious taken the cue from his words and made up something fantastic? Of course, Ani had remembered the code phrase, but she remembered reading once that people who slept together sometimes had similar dreams. And if this really was what Abraham had said, now what? She could interpret dreams, too? She racked her brain for some memory of people in the Bible who’d been able to interpret dreams, but her Bible study had ended in Sunday school. If only Rembrandt were here, he’d know what was in store. But she had only her memory of him to give her a little strength.

Then there was the marriage issue. Okay, Ani was a nice man, she would probably do well with him. But how was she going to handle being an adjunct to his life at court? During her visit at the command of the king, she’d seen a lot of women present; this didn’t seem to be the kind of place where women stayed home with the barefoot and pregnant thing. Would she be expected to show up at court every day? And, if she did, how would she handle all those people who were angry with her for “stealing” Ani away from the Lady Ctalan? Would she hurt Ani more than she would help him? She could see herself losing her temper and really making things miserable for everyone.

But mostly she thought about what her life would be like, and how different it was going to be from what she wanted to do with her life. She was a writer, a poet. She’d been writing her memoirs of sliding when the Kromaggs had shown up; if only she could have published them before they arrived, she could have made a bundle and fled when the invasion began. She could have organized a resistance movement, or created a computer network to combat the Kromaggs. She could have fought the good fight and used the lessons she’d picked up on all those worlds to help save home from the humiliation of conquest.

But now she was here on this world where no one understood her, no one had any idea what she wanted or knew how to do, and where she had no outlet for her abilities. She was going to be somebody’s wife, then somebody’s mother. There was so much more to her than that! It wasn’t fair.

She saw Ani watching her ruminate, but she guessed he knew her well enough by now to let her have her space. She knew he would take Abraham’s words to heart and listen to her. But she didn’t want just him to listen to her. She wanted the world to be her audience, to marvel at her stories and her hard-won knowledge. That she couldn’t have here. No, it wasn’t fair.

She was still brooding over her fate when they arrived in the outskirts of Salem. There were a lot of people out in the streets, and she realized it was the last hours before the Sabbath—Wade was surprised when she’d found out they observed a work-free day—and everyone was getting things done before sundown. Many of the people were nodding to acknowledge Ani, and some were staring at the mysterious woman who rode at his side. Wade sighed and realized she was going to have to get used to that. Being a famous writer was one thing; being a “former angel” was quite another.

They turned a corner and stopped their horses. Coming around from the other direction were the Lady Pieran, the Lady Ctalan, and another daughter with their entourage progressing through the town on horseback on their way home from the palace. The Lady Pieran reined in her horse with an angry jerk, then shot Wade a look of such disdain that she almost shivered.

The Lady Pieran nodded perfunctorily to Ani, but she gave no similar courtesy to Wade. “We have not met.”

Wade did not want to have this meeting out in public, and she certainly wished she could have prepared herself for it. She’d have to feel her way along. “I know who you are, Lady Pieran.”

“Indeed. I have no idea who _you_ are. I think no one does. I do not believe these fabulous stories that you’re an angel.”

“I’m not an angel, Lady Pieran.”

“You deny it to my face, but you spread the rumors throughout the town to undermine and manipulate.”

Wade was getting angry at this arrogant woman’s bile, but she managed to bite her tongue. A crowd was growing around the confrontation, and she didn’t want to give the people fodder for a month’s worth of gossip.

The Lady Pieran continued, “The king is young, and susceptible to the wiles of a malicious schemer who hides behind a pretty face.”

Ani came to Wade’s defense. “This is beneath you, my lady. Enough.”

The proud aristocrat frowned at him. “And you. The king has much respect for you. But I have none now. It was the place of someone from my family to be the first councilor. Not a child of farmers and servants who fornicated for money.”

That was it. Wade fired back icily, “A week ago you were very willing to claim him as your son-in-law.”

“That was before I saw how weak and vacillating he is. The moment you arrived in Salem, he dumped my daughter on the side of the road as if she were rotten cabbage.” Wade glanced at the Lady Ctalan, who seemed more than happy to let her mother fight this battle for her...not that she had much choice. “She is the daughter and granddaughter of first councilors! Marrying her should have been the greatest honor of his life! But he threw her aside for you. Who are you? Who is your family? What have they done? Where are you from? You are no one here. You will only bring shame and dishonor to Salem.”

Wade had had more than enough. She could feel the eager crowd press in, anticipating her reply to the virago’s tirade. The gossipmongers be damned. Sorry, Ani—she was going to nail this woman to the nearest wall. “What right do you—”

A gasp rushed forward from the back of the crowd, and then a woman’s shriek cut through the argument. “My baby! My baby!” The crowd turned to look at the crisis, and over their heads Wade could see a commotion but she couldn’t see what was going on. Without thinking about what she should do, she slipped off her horse and headed through the crowd.

She came upon a frantic woman holding a limp child of three. She was calling his name, trying to shake him awake, but Wade arrived to see the child’s eyes roll back in his head as he slipped into unconsciousness. “What happened?”

The woman gasped, “He was fine, he was playing and running, and then he fell over!” She shook him, but he was starting to turn a little blue.

Something next to the boy caught Wade’s eye. It was an apple with a few bites missing. She knelt next to the woman, trying to get her attention away from her dying child. “Was he eating that apple?”

“Yes!” she shrieked. “He was eating and he was fine!”

She realized the mother had been paying attention to the argument and not to her child. Wade knew she was partly to blame for this. There was no time to explain. She put her hands on the boy as his mother clenched him to her breast. She looked the mother hard in the eyes. “I might be able to help him. Please, let me have him.”

The woman had a ferocious grip on her child, but Wade’s earnest gaze calmed her enough to let go. Wade quickly pulled the boy from her and stretched him out on the ground on his back. She knelt by his head and put a hand under his neck to tilt up his chin and then pinched shut his nose. She tried a small puff of mouth-to-mouth respiration, but she could feel the air not getting through. She pulled the limp child up into her lap and held him facing away from her. She tightened her fists around his solar plexus. Only then did she notice a hundred people staring at her. She shook the image of their frightened faces from her mind and with her clenched fists gave the boy’s diaphragm a jolt. A gasp went through the crowd, and Wade suddenly realized these people probably thought she was trying to finish him off or force his soul out of his body. Oh, no. If this didn’t work, she’d have to hide in a cave for the rest of her life. “Come on,” she said quietly to the child, “cough it up.” She gave the boy’s diaphragm another jolt, but nothing happened. The woman started wailing at Wade. Wade muttered to the boy, “Come on, give it up.” Another jolt, and a large bite of apple blew out of the boy’s mouth and landed on the ground by his mother’s feet.

Wade quickly stretched the boy out on the ground again and put him in the mouth-to-mouth position. She put her hand on his chest. She could feel his small, oxygen-starved heart beating frantically, so at least she wouldn’t have to get that started. She puffed a small breath into the boy’s lungs and turned her head to watch his lungs deflate. No breath followed, so she gave him another breath. And another. And another. She could feel the crowd around her pressing in. If this child died, she was doomed. Another breath.

The boy spat out a cough and the crowd gasped. The boy coughed and cried, and his stunned mother scooped him up into a panicked, crushing embrace. Wade watched the mother and child cry together, and the adrenaline of the moment caught her breath. She’d known CPR for years, but she’d never actually used it. The reality of what she’d just done rushed over her. She got to her feet, but her legs wobbled under her and she dropped back to her knees for a moment before regaining her equilibrium.

As she stood up, she blinked with surprise at the astonishing sight that met her eyes. By ones and twos and threes, the people in the crowd began kneeling before her. Some looked respectful, others worshipful. Wade couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The entire crowd was soon on its knees. “No, don’t, you don’t understand....” She felt a gentle hand on her arm, and she saw Ani standing beside her. He gave her a small nod, telling her to accept the gesture. Wade looked at the people, overwhelmed. She caught her breath. At the far edge of the crowd, she saw the Lady Pieran and her entourage gathered on the ground with the others and kneeling to her, their heads bowed. Wade shivered. She reached for Ani’s hand on her arm and held it tight.

Well before sunset, talk began among the people of Salem about how Wade had given the last of her angelic breath and sacrificed her own immortality to bring a child back from the dead. Wade heard the servants in the household talking about it, and she could only imagine how far the story had spread. But she had to accept that there was nothing she could do about it. People would believe what they wanted to, both good and bad. All she could do was tell the truth and hope for the best.

The next day was one of rest for the entire household, even the servants. No food was cooked, and everyone got by on cold meats and day-old bread. In the early evening, everyone gathered in a large common room in the back of the house. Ani wouldn’t tell Wade what was happening as he led her to the assembly, but her imaginings proved off-target as she saw the servants and their families sitting around and chatting, and a trio of musicians tuning up. “Abraham told me something to remember,” he said to her as he sat her down at the edge of the room. “He said in the Lord’s eyes, we’re all equal. I admit I didn’t understand it. How could the Lord see all as equal when He’d made one a king and another a slave? So, we have this evening together once a week so I can think about it. Maybe I understand a little better now, but I need to be reminded, just in case.”

Before Wade had a chance to marvel yet again at Ani’s simple sincerity, the musicians nodded to the master of the house and began to play the first notes of a song. The assembly smiled with recognition, and many of the women got up to dance as the musicians began the tune in earnest. The cares of the week were forgotten as master and servants together shared the laughter and camaraderie of the simple pleasures of music and dance. After the women finished what Ani told her was a traditional harvest dance, it was the men’s turn. Ani got up and danced with them, and every so often he’d flash a smiling glance at her to see if she was watching, which she did with amusement.

As Wade watched the men dance, a young woman servant came by pouring wine for everyone, and, as she filled a cup for Wade, she said just above a whisper, “I’m so glad you’re marrying the master.” Wade looked at her, and the servant’s smile and nod told her she was sincere.

Wade whispered back, “I bet he never brought the Lady Ctalan to this.”

The girl’s eyes rolled in disbelief, and then an embarrassed giggle escaped her lips. Wade laughed with her as she moved on to the next set of waiting cups.

Wade watched Ani dance. ...Her future husband. This was going to be her life from now on. Well, this easy comfort within the house would be her life one day a week. She was more comfortable spending time with the servants than she was with the nobility at court, and as she watched Ani dance, she knew he was, too. He may have done this evening together to think about Abraham’s lesson, but she also knew he did it so he could be himself at least once a week. The dancing men accomplished a flashy maneuver, and the women applauded with appreciation. Wade had to admit this evening was pretty wonderful. Everyone here was totally at ease, with no one seeming self-conscious around the master. They even indulged in a little friendly showing-off on the dance floor for their future mistress.

She thought some more as she watched them dance. So, she was going to be marrying this guy. Having children with him. If she remembered correctly the prophecy of the angel—stranger—whatever—on the night Gomorrah and Sodom were destroyed, they would have five children, no less. Natural childbirth. With no doctors handy in case of an emergency. She didn’t want to think about that. What she really needed to do was come to grips with something she’d been avoiding from the moment the marriage idea had appeared. It was time to face the issue of Quinn.

Quinn Mallory: friend, traveling partner, genius, idiot, lost love...? Did she feel this affection for Ani because he was his double? Did she still feel something for Quinn, and would his specter linger between them? She pictured Quinn out there dancing in Ani’s place. The men did another flashy maneuver, and Wade had to chuckle at the imagined sight of Quinn tripping over his feet. She thought about him, then sighed. Where was he? What was he doing? Surely, he’d come to his senses about Maggie by now. Wade was certain his sudden infatuation with her was just a case of hormones or temporary insanity. What was he doing? Did he know she’d been abducted? Was he looking for her? Had he ever gotten home? ...What would happen if he showed up on this Earth and asked her to slide back with him? Her eyes were on Ani, but she didn’t see him as she contemplated that choice.

What would she do if Quinn appeared one day, apologized for turning into an idiot, declared his undying love for her, and promised to be what she’d once hoped he’d be in her life? Part of her scoffed at the idea, but that wasn’t the point—she had to know what she’d do if that unlikely possibility happened. She liked Ani, but she didn’t love him, not yet. She loved Quinn, but as she searched the hidden corners of her heart for any lingering doubts, she knew their time had passed. She’d had a crush on him, and then she’d loved him, and then she’d loved him as a friend. And now she loved him as a memory. If he came through the door in the middle of this dance, she’d be thrilled to see him, but....

Suddenly she wanted to feel that old need for Quinn again, to hold onto something familiar in her heart in this unfamiliar land. But, as she grasped for it, the last wisps of her old affection for the man who’d launched her on this journey dissolved into nothingness. She blinked back a sudden rush of emotions. Oh, God, Quinn was gone from her life, from her heart. Once she’d wanted to marry him, and now he was simply an old friend. A huge chunk of her past—a part that had sustained her through so many bad times—had just vanished.

The dance ended as Wade brushed the moisture from her eyes. Ani approached her, regarding her seriously. “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head, not looking him in the eye. “No. I’m fine.”

He crossed his arms. “My mother always warned me not to ask a woman that question, because she’ll always give that answer. And the worse the problem, the quicker the answer.”

Wade had to smile. “Your mom’s a smart woman.”

He smiled, then sat beside her as the children got up for their turn to dance. He sat close to her, with one arm behind her chair but not on her, in a way that was comfortable but not possessive. They’d had such little physical contact since she’d arrived in Salem that this closeness almost seemed daring to her, and she found it rather pleasant. He watched the children dance for a while, then said to her quietly, “I’d like to ask a favor of you.”

“Sure. What?”

“Every day I’d like you to tell me one thing from your home that I won’t believe, but it’s absolutely true.”

She looked at him. “Really.”

“Really,” he replied, but in a way that told her he didn’t entirely understand what it meant. She tried not to laugh.

Okay, what should she dazzle him with? She’d already mentioned airplanes, telephones, and men on the moon. “The store where I worked, that I told you sold writing equipment, actually sold computers. They’re machines that can store entire libraries of knowledge, and do complex arithmetic, and some of them are even learning how to think.”

He pondered this as he watched the dancers, then asked, “But who would want such a thing?”

“Just about everyone.”

“But what purpose would they serve? Say, a baker or a house servant. Why would they need a library, or complex arithmetic?”

Why was he asking these difficult questions? “Well, life is more complicated back home. Besides, there are a lot of fun things you can do with them. Many of them are connected so you can write a message and send it to people all over the world.”

He considered this. “But if they live someplace else, how do they know who you are?”

She smiled. “They don’t. Or you get to know them through writing to them.” He considered this for a while longer, and she added, “It’s really a lot of fun. You can share poetry, or stories, or just ideas that you have.”

He pondered her story. “What does it look like?”

She needed to keep this simple. “It’s like a box,” she gestured the size of a laptop computer, “and the lid opens up and you read the messages on the inside of the lid.”

He frowned, trying to imagine this. His frown gave way to a playful smile. “I don’t believe it.” He chuckled. “But I believe you that it’s true.” She chuckled with him, surprised at how pleased she was by his interest in her home.

The children finished their dance, which had been more play than art, and everyone applauded them. Ani looked over at the musicians and gave the smallest of nods. They nodded in return and played the first notes of another song. All around the room people smiled, and couples stood up together. Ani stood and held out his hands to Wade. “Dance with me.”

“But I don’t know your dances.”

“It’s an easy one.”

She didn’t want to make a fool of herself so soon in front of these people with whom she would be spending the rest of her life. There was plenty of time for that later. “I’d rather not.”

Those large blue eyes sparkled. “Which is more fun, reading messages in a box or dancing?”

She knew this was going somewhere, but she couldn’t see where. “Dancing.”

His eyes lit with theatrical joy. “How wonderful that of those two things, here we have the one that’s more fun.” She had to laugh at that. He held out his hands again. “Please?”

Against her better judgment, she took his hands and let him lead her out onto the dance floor. She muttered, “This better be incredibly easy.”

He said reassuringly, “Very easy. The purpose of a courting dance is to be together, not to dance.” He stood to her left and slightly behind her and held her hands, a pose that reminded Wade of a country two-step. The music began, and he guided her through a series of simple, lilting steps to one side and then the other. It was easy, Wade had to admit, and it was nice to be part of the evening. Once she was confident in her steps, she looked around at the others. The other couples dancing were lost in each other as they stepped to the languid rhythms. Some were young, while others were obviously long-married. One couple looked to be in their sixties at least, but they were just as flirtatious with each other as any of the teenagers. Those who weren’t dancing were beaming at the couples, and especially at her and Ani. Maybe, like the young woman servant, they were glad not to have the Lady Ctalan in the house. Or maybe they were simply happy for Ani. She looked up at him. The joy in his face as he gazed back at her was indescribable. She was his dream come true, and he was hiding it from no one. She smiled, a little overwhelmed.

The tune changed as the dance continued, and to Wade’s surprise it sounded familiar. How could she know this music? She searched through her memory, and then she recalled the scene: This was the tune the musicians in the House of Abneer had played that night she was there, when Rosmani had danced for her fellow slaves and managed to coax Wade up to join her. She looked at Ani with the recognition on her face, and he smiled. He whispered in her ear, “The princess wants music.”

The music continued, but Wade did not hear it. She shivered as the understanding poured into her being. It all made sense now. The journey of her life had never been random at all. Every step of the way, from the time in her childhood when she first had a sense of who she was to the day Quinn had been hired at the computer store to the crash of the Kromagg transport, all of it had been on a clear, straight path. All the sliding, all the adventures, all the strength she’d had to accumulate along the way, all the knowledge of people and other worlds, everything she’d experienced had been moving her towards who she was at this moment—friend, counselor, fighter, lover, traveler, collector of knowledge and wisdom. In one form or another, everything she’d learned along the way would help her here, and side by side with Ani she could truly make this world a better place. She wasn’t supposed to write extemporaneous poetry. She was supposed to write history, one moment at a time. This was where she was supposed to be. This had been her destination all along. This was exactly right. And as she looked at Ani, she realized there was no other place on this or any other Earth that she’d rather be.

She let go of his left hand and did an impromptu twirl beneath his right hand, to his delight. She beamed up at him as she took his hand again and resumed the steps of the dance. “The Princess Susa-na-le is very happy.”

To her astonishment, he suddenly had tears in his eyes.

“What is it?”

“...From the day you appeared, I only asked of God one thing: that I could make you happy.”

She lightly caressed his soft beard and smiled. “You’ve always made me happy.”

His face flushed with emotion as a pleased laugh escaped him. “Even when you were angry with me?”

She laughed. “Even then. You’re pretty amazing.”

He smiled. “Pretty, I’m not so sure. But amazing is good.” They laughed together.

On the night before Wade’s wedding, she had a dream. She was walking below the crest of the hill near Talan, overlooking the Living Sea, in the time just before dawn. She saw a figure ahead of her, facing the bay, and from the hands-on-hips pose he seemed perplexed as he looked west at the distant, uninhabited peninsula.

“Oh, man,” Rembrandt muttered, “I know I know this place. It’s gotta be that crazy Sodom and Gomorrah World. But how the heck did I get here?”

Wade smiled as she stepped up beside him. “Can’t call it that anymore—those towns are gone.”

He turned in amazement, and after stammering in shock for a few moments, he pulled her into a tearful hug. “Oh, Wade, honey, girl, I can’t believe it!” He held her at arms’ length to look at her and make sure his eyes weren’t lying, and then he hugged her again. “Oh, God, thank You! Thank You! You’re safe! We were so worried about you! We were looking all over for you. I thought I’d never see you again.”

She returned his hug, almost as glad to see him as he was to see her. “Remmy, I missed you so much.”

He held her shoulders. “You are okay, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine. I’m safe. I escaped before they got me there.”

He sighed with relief. “Oh, good. I was afraid I was having some sort of weird dream.”

“Actually, I’m the one who’s dreaming.”

He blinked. “Say what?”

She nodded. “My dream.” She gestured to the world around them. “This is where I am. That’s why you’re here.”

He eyed her skeptically. “If this is your dream, how come I’m the one who’s having it?”

She laughed. “Because I’m good. I’m really good.”

A voice chirped upslope from them: “You must be good, if I’m having this dream, too.”

They turned and saw Quinn amble towards them, hands in pockets and grinning from ear to ear. Rembrandt nodded to Quinn as he picked Wade up into a friendly bear hug and swung her around full circle before setting her down.

A familiar, basso voice said from behind them, “I never particularly believed in these kinds of dreams. But since it’s yours and I’m here, I’ll humour you.” The three turned to see Professor Arturo approach, the brightening dawn at his back.

It was Wade’s turn to stammer as the other two stared at their long-lost friend. “Oh, my God. I had no idea I could do this kind of dream.”

He hugged her as he said, “What kind of dream is that?”

Rembrandt and Quinn were staring at him. Rembrandt finally managed to say, “Bringing people back from the dead.”

Arturo frowned quizzically at them. “Dead?” His frown deepened as he planted his hands on his hips. “You mean to tell me after all this time you never figured out you got _the wrong one?_ ” The three exchanged embarrassed glances. He growled sarcastically, “Well, I am impressed.”

Quinn managed to find the diplomacy the moment needed. “Sorry, Professor. We needed you...so we made do with what we had and hoped we had the right one.”

Arturo frowned a bit longer, then relented. “Dead, you say?”

Rembrandt nodded. “He saved Q-Ball’s life.”

Arturo nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I suppose that redeemed him somewhat. I spent nearly a year in jail for what that scoundrel did. I managed to talk the judge into some leniency by explaining that because of sliding I had a ‘space/time anomaly in my brain’ and therefore wasn’t entirely responsible for my actions.”

“So you’re still on Azure Gate World?” Wade asked eagerly.

Arturo nodded. “I’ve been working...,” he sighed heavily, “...with Mr. Bennish on modifying the sliding equipment Mr. Mallory’s counterpart created. We’ve been running quite a few tests—” He eyed Quinn askance. “You remember testing, that whole process you dispensed with before you threw us into the void?” His berating wasn’t working—the three were so happy to see him that no amount of grumbling could spoil their joy. “Well, we’ve done quite a few tests. And not only have we found a way to determine _in situ_ a slide’s duration, we’ve discovered that sliding seems to leave some sort of signature on the cellular level, so we’ve devised a program that will read my signature and send me back along the path from whence I came. It looks very much like I’ll be able to go home.”

Rembrandt shook his head. “You don’t want to go back there, Professor.”

“Why not?”

“The Kromaggs invaded a couple months ago.”

“And what in heaven’s name are ‘Kromaggs’?”

Another quick glance between the three—whoops, wrong Professor. Quinn answered, “Ah, they’re a humanoid species that evolved parallel to humans. Very militant. And they have sophisticated sliding technology.”

“Yeah,” Rembrandt said bitterly, “they like taking things over and destroying ‘em.” He put a protective arm around Wade. “They kidnapped Wade.”

Arturo frowned with concern. “But you escaped?” She nodded. He nodded his approval. “Well done, Miss Welles. I see you’re as resilient and resourceful as ever. Well then, if home isn’t an option, I shan’t feel guilty about my original idea of not going all the way back.”

Wade beamed. “You’re going back to Elizabeth.”

He smiled. “I was hoping to lure her away to our Earth, but now I can simply stay with her and help her in her work.”

Quinn shook his hand. “That’s great, Professor.”

Rembrandt said, “Yeah, go get ‘em, tiger.”

Arturo asked, “But what’s happened with all of you?”

Rembrandt explained, “Q-Ball and Maggie came back about a month ago and rescued me from the ‘Maggs, and we’ve been looking for you,” he said to Wade, who smiled, “and....” He shook his head as he pointed at Quinn. “You are not going to believe this.”

Quinn smiled, a little sheepishly. “I have a brother.”

Wade frowned. “From another dimension?”

Rembrandt said, “He _is_ from another dimension.” Wade didn’t understand. “He’s got this whole weird Clark Kent, Kal-El, Quinn-El thing going.”

Quinn answered Wade and Arturo’s confused gazes with, “When we came back home and got together with Remmy again, I found out I’m not from there. My real parents—our parents—put us on two separate Earths to hide us from the Kromaggs, and then they didn’t find us when they came back for us. We just found Colin on a low-tech world, and now he’s sliding with us.”

It was Wade’s turn to frown. “So, basically, what you’re saying is your life has turned into a crappy science fiction story.”

“Science fact,” he corrected her with an impish smile. “I’m sorry Colin’s not here. You’d like him.”

Rembrandt looked around. “Yeah, where is he? And Maggie.”

Wade said archly, “This is my dream. I decide who’s here and who’s not.”

Rembrandt smiled in spite of himself and shook his head as Arturo inquired, “Maggie?”

Quinn answered, “Someone who started sliding with us when we lost your double.”

He nodded. “And I take it Miss Welles doesn’t care for her.”

She replied, “Remember that really evil woman from Gomorrah who kidnapped me? Maggie’s her double.”

“She is not,” Quinn stated.

“She is, too,” she shot back.

“Wade, you really never gave her a chance. She’s okay.”

Rembrandt agreed, “She mellowed out a lot.”

She stated, “I don’t care if she turned into the patron saint of mellow. I’m not interested in seeing her again.”

Rembrandt decided to change the subject. “So, what’s up with you, girl?” He indicated her Salemite clothes. “You look like you settled in somewhere.”

She suddenly felt a little awkward saying this in front of Quinn. “I escaped the Kromaggs a month and a half ago when the ship crashed here on, well, I guess we should call it Bible World. And, uh...I’m getting married. Today.”

The men reacted with surprise. Rembrandt said with a laugh, “Whoa, you sure didn’t waste any time.”

“Best wishes, Miss Welles,” Arturo offered sincerely.

It took Quinn a moment to say, “Married? Who?”

Rembrandt read her evasive glance and laughed. “Q-Ball’s double! Girl, I told you he’d live, but you didn’t believe me.”

Quinn didn’t know how to react to that. “My double, the prostitute?”

Wade corrected, “He’s now your double, the first councilor to the king of Salem.”

Wade couldn’t completely read Quinn’s reaction, but she could tell he wasn’t taking this well. “How can you marry someone you don’t love?”

Wade chose her words carefully. “Professor, you’re the only one here who’s been married, so correct me if I’m wrong. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I think marriage isn’t about romance, and hearts and flowers, and being all dewy-eyed about someone. It’s about the other person being your best friend, and wanting to build your life with him.”

Arturo nodded with a small smile. “Yes.”

She continued, “He’s such an incredibly good person. And he’s absolutely nuts about me. I know he’s the right one and we’re going to be very happy together.”

Arturo gave her a heartfelt kiss on the forehead. “And so I’ll wish you every happiness.”

She beamed at him. “Thank you. And the same to you.” They exchanged tender smiles.

Rembrandt looked at his friends, a sad realization growing. “So, this is goodbye then.” The others looked at each other with surprise. He said to each in turn, “You’re going back to Slavery World, you’re marrying that Ani guy and living here in the past, someday you’re gonna go off to Krypton or whatever, and I’m gonna go fight Kromaggs until home is free.”

The realization surprised them and hit hard. Wade had been trying to deal with the emotional reality of her farewell to her old life ever since she’d arrived here, but nothing could prepare her for the finality of this moment. Her eyes filled with tears. “I guess it is.”

They looked at each other, knowing it was for the last time. Through all their trials and adventures, they’d become family. Closer than family. How could Wade simply say goodbye to them like this, these men she loved so much? A tear spilled down her cheek. “I know you guys aren’t going to compare notes, but I have to tell you so you’ll know deep down that this is real. It’s more than just a dream. It is real. It’s really....” More tears followed. “It’s really goodbye.”

She turned to Arturo to give him a hug, but in that large embrace she could only cry. He comforted her a bit, and she managed to pull herself together enough to say, “I’m going to miss you so much. I mean, I thought you were dead, and now you’re not, but now you’re going and I’ll never see you again.” He stroked her hair. “I’m going to miss your knowledge, and your courage, and the way you yell at people.” He smiled at that. “And your laugh. I’m going to miss that so much.”

He was teary-eyed himself as he said, “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to muster one for you.”

She gave him another squeeze, then turned to face Rembrandt. He was crying as much as she was, which got a soggy laugh out of her. They hugged. “Girl, you know how much I love you.”

“I know. And you know how much I love you.” She regarded him fondly. “Remmy, you taught me so much. You have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. If I can get away with it, I’ll name one of our children after you.” They cried together, their tears saying what words could not.

Wade finally gathered herself and turned to Quinn. He had changed so much over the years of sliding, growing tough and cocksure, and yet as he looked forlornly at her she could see that same boyish, aching pout of the fallible guy who’d won her heart so long ago. She smiled. “‘And you, Scarecrow, I think I’m going to miss you most of all.’”

They settled into a long hug. He finally said to her with a teasing glint in his eye, “He better take good care of you.”

“He will,” she replied with a glint of her own. “Better than you ever would have.”

He winced. “Ouch.”

They smiled together, and she stroked his cheek. “Goodbye, Quinn. Thank you for everything. It was a wild ride. But it was worth it. Every minute of it.” He kissed her, with just a touch of bittersweet lingering.

She stepped back and looked at her friends as the first rays of a golden dawn peeked over the hill. She knew she would be waking soon, and it was time to go. “Three things I know you’re not going to remember, because I know you and you’re going to write this off as a dream, but I have to tell you anyway. The Kromaggs have a Wade Welles, and she may think she’s me and say she’s me, but she’s not the right one. She’s just really mentally ill. You can still rescue her, because nobody deserves what she’s going through.” Rembrandt and Quinn reacted thoughtfully. “And you might be able to determine where you go when you slide if you concentrate hard on your destination. Maybe, no guarantees. But it’s worth a try. And if you ever come back this way again, I’ll be down in the South Bay, in Salem. Just ask for Susa-wada-na-le.” Her smile lingered on them as they too realized this dream was coming to an end. “Safe journey.” Her smile deepened. “Soft landings.”

The men said their heartfelt goodbyes to one another, and each headed off to his private exit from this dream and disappeared in the dawn light. Wade looked at the spreading sunrise, then back at where her friends had been. She was alone. It was time to go. She turned away from the sunrise and headed south, south towards Salem, south towards home. She walked along the crest of the hill above the Living Sea until she too disappeared into the golden light of the new day.

***


End file.
